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1 A-Á

A. is the first letter in all the alphabets of Phenician extraction. The
Runic alphabet, being confused and arbitrary, makes the sole exception
to this rule.
A. PRONUNCIATION: it is either simple (a) or diphthongal (á). The
simple a is pronounced long or short; when long it is sounded like the
long Italian a as in padre, or as in Engl. father; when short, like the short
Italian a as in cambio, or as in Engl. marry. The á — though in grammars
commonly called a long vowel — is phonetically diphthongal (a + u), and
sounds like Engl. ou or ow: Engl. thou and Icel. þá, now and ná, have
almost the same sound. Again a and á have, like all other vowels, diph-
thongs or simple, a deep, full chest-sound if followed by a single consonant,
or by more than one weak consonant (a liquid followed by a media).
They sound short if followed by two or more strong consonants (a double
mute or liquid): thus the a and á sound long in tál, sermo; sát, sedebat; mán, mancipium; tál, dolus; ár, remits; sát, sessio, hátr, odium; hárðr,durus; káldr, frigidus; vándr, difficilis; támdr, domitus, etc. But short
in hátt, pileum; hátt, modum; mánn, bominem; bánn, interdictum; háll,lubricus; kált, frigidum; rámt, acidum; hárt, durum; vánt, assuetum, etc.; the consonants shortening the sound of the preceding vowel. Thea is also short in all endings, verbal or nominal, tala, talar, talaða, dixi;
talast, dicitur; vaka, vigilia; fagran, pulchrum, etc. Etymologically a
distinction must be made between the primitive á, as in sátu (sedebant),
átu (edebant), gátu (poterant), and the á produced by suppressing
consonants; either nasals, as in á, ást, áss, báss, gás, = an, anst,
ans, bans, gans; or gutturals, h, g, k, as in á (aqua), sá (videbat), lá
(jacebat), má (debet), nátt (nox), dráttr (tractus), and a great many
others; or labials, v, f, as in á = af, áir = afr, hár but háfan; or dentals,
as in nál (acus) [Goth. nepla, Engl. needle], vál (ambitus, mendicitas)
[A. S. vädl], etc. In very early times there was no doubt an audible
distinction between these two kinds of á, which however is not observed
even by the earliest poets, those of the 10th century. The marking of
the diphthongal vowels with an acute accent is due to the Icelandic
philologist Thorodd (circa 1080-1140), and was probably an imitation
of Anglo-Saxon. The circumflex, applied by Jacob Grimm, is unknown
to Icel. authors of whatever age. Thorodd, in his treatise on the vowels
(Skálda, pp. 160 sqq.), distinguishes between three kinds of vowels, viz.short, long (i. e. diphthongal), and nasal. The long ones he proposes
to mark with an acute (&aolig-acute;); the nasals by a dot above the line (•). The
vowels of his alphabet are thirty-six in number. According to his rule we
should have to write, af (ex), át (esus), ä (in). No doubt the a was also
nasal in the verbs and the weak nouns, komå (= koman), augä (gen.);
and also when followed by an n, e. g. vänr (assuefactus). The distinctive
marking of the nasals never came into practice, and their proper sound
also disappeared; neither is this distinction observed by the poets in their
rhymes. The marking of the diphthongal vowels — either the primitive
vowels or those formed by agglutination — by an acute accent, according
to the rule of Thorodd, is indeed used in a very few old Icel. parchment
fragments of the 12th century. The only MS. of any considerable length
which strictly observes this distinction is the Ann. Reg. Ísl. 2087. 4b.
Royal Libr. Copenhagen, written in Icel. at the end of the 13th century.
In the great bulk of MSS. both kinds of vowels are treated alike, as
in Latin. About the middle of the 14th century the doubling of vowels,
especially that of aa (&aolig-acute;) = á, came into use, and was employed through
more than three centuries, until about 1770 the Icelanders resumed the
spelling of Thorodd, marking diphthongal vowels by an acute accent,
but following the rules of modern pronunciation. The diphthong au — in Norse freq. spelt ou — has at present in Icel. a peculiar sound, answering
to äu or eu in German, and nearly to Engl. oi. The Norse pronunciation
is different and perhaps more genuine.
B. CHANGES. I. a changes into æ, á into Æ: this change —
a part of a more general transformation, by Grimm termed umlaut,
‘vowel-change’ — is common to all the Teutonic idioms, except the
Gothic (v. letter E and Æ). II. a changes into ö (&aolig-acute;), á into &aolig-acute;:
this transformation is peculiar to the Scandinavian branch, esp. the
Icelandic idiom, where it is carried on to the fullest extent — in old
Swedish and Danish its use was scanty and limited. It takes
place, 1. in monosyllabic nouns with a for their radical vowel,
α. feminines, öld, periodus; önd, anima; örk, arca; för, iter; höll, aula; hönd, manus; sök, causa, etc. β. adjectives in fem. sing, and in neut.
pl., öll, tota; fögr, pulchra; hörð, dura; hölt, clauda; sönn, vera; from
allr, etc. γ. in plur. neut., bönd, vincula; börn, GREEK; lönd, terrae; from band, etc. δ. in singular masculines with a suppressed u in
the root, hjörtr, cervus; fjörðr, sinus; björn, ursus; örn, aquila, etc. 2. in dissyllables a radical a, when followed by a final u (-u,
-ur, -um, etc.), in Icel. constantly changes into ö, — öllum, cunctis; mönnum, hominibus; köllum, vocamus; vökum, vigiliis and vigilamus; vökur, vigiliae, etc. Danes and Swedes here retained the a; so did a
great part of Norway. The change only prevailed in the west of
Norway and the whole of Iceland. Some Norse MSS. therefore con-
stantly keep a in those cases, e. g. Cd. Ups. De la Gard. 8 (Ed. C. R.
Unger, 1849), which spells allum, cunctis; hafuð, caput; jafur, rex; andverðr, adversus; afund, invidia, etc. (v. Pref. viii.) Other Norse MSS.
spell a and ö promiscuously; allum or öllum, kallum or köllum. In Icel.
this change prevailed about the year 1000. Even at the end of the loth
century we still frequently meet with rhymes such as barð — jarðu, þang —
langu, etc. 3. a in inflexions, in penultimate syllables, if followed byu, changes into u (or ö); thus keisurum, caesaribus; vitrurum, sapienti-
oribus; hörðurum, durioribus; hörðustum, durissimis: pret. pl., sköpuðu,creabant; töluðu, dicebant; orrustu, pugnam. In part. pass. fem. sing, and
neut. pl., sköpuð, creata; töluð, dicta; töpuð, perdi/ a. Neut. pl. in words,
as sumur, aestates; heruð, pagi. This change is peculiar to Iceland, and is
altogether strange to Norse MSS., where we constantly find such forms
as ætlaðu, putabant; gnagaðu, mordebant; aukaðu, augebant; skapað,creata; kallað, dicta; skaparum, tapaðum, ágætastum, harðarum, skín-
andum; kunnastu, artem, etc. This difference, as it frequently oc-
curred at early times, soon gave the Icel. idiom a peculiar and strange
sound, — amarunt would, in Icelandic, be ömurunt. Norse phrases — as
með bænum ok fastu (fostu) hafðu (höfðu) með sér vaxljós, ok dýrkaðu
(dýrkuðu) þa hælgu hátíð með fastu (föstu) ok vaktu (vöktu) þar um
nóttina með margum (mörgum) aðrum (öðrum) vanfærum mannum
(monnum), O. H. L. 87 — sound uncouth and strange to Icel. ears;
and so no doubt did the Icel. vowel transformations to Norse
ears. 4. endings in -an, -all, e. g. feminines in -an, as hugsan,
ætlan, iðran, frequently change into -un, — hugsun, ætlun, iðrun, and are
now always used so: gamall, vetus, f. gömul; einsamall, solus, f. ein-
sömul. In modern Norse, gomol, eismol (Ivar Aasen); atall, atrox;
ötull, strenuus; svikall, perfidus, and svikull; þrifnaðr, mundities, and
þrifnuðr, etc. 5. in the cases correlative to II. 1, 2, the á in its
turn changes into a vowel, by Thorodd marked &aolig-acute;; this vowel change
seems to have been settled about the beginning of the 11th century, and
prevailed in Iceland during the 12th, being constantly employed in MSS.
of that time; about the end of that century, however, and the beginning
of the next, it fell off, and at last became extinct. Its phonetical value,
therefore, cannot now be precisely stated: it no doubt had an interme-
diate sound between á and ó, such as ö (oo) has between a and o. Thorodd
proposed to mark the short ‘umlaut’ ö by &aolig-acute;; and the vowel change of á
by &aolig-acute; (in the MSS. however commonly written &aolig-acute;). INSTANCES: fcm.,&aolig-acute;, amnis; &aolig-acute;st, amor; &aolig-acute;l, funis; &aolig-acute;r, remits; l&aolig-acute;g, lignum; skr&aolig-acute;, libel-
lus; s&aolig-acute;tt, pax; s&aolig-acute;l, anima; n&aolig-acute;l, acus; v&aolig-acute;n, spes: masc., h&aolig-acute;ttr, modus;
þr&aolig-acute;ðr, fîlum; þ&aolig-acute;ttr, funis; m&aolig-acute;ttr, vis;&aolig-acute;ss, deus; &aolig-acute;rr, nuntius: neut.
pl., s&aolig-acute;r, vulnera; t&aolig-acute;r, GREEK; m&aolig-acute;l, dicta; r&aolig-acute;ð, consilia; v&aolig-acute;r, vera:
adj. fem, and neut., koát, læta; f&aolig-acute;, pauca; sm&aolig-acute;, parva; h&aolig-acute;, alta; f&aolig-acute;m,paucis; h&aolig-acute;m, altis: verbs, s&aolig-acute;, videbant (but sá, videbat); g&aolig-acute;tu, capie-
bant; &aolig-acute;tu, edebant (but at, edebat), etc.: v. Frump. 26-28: e. g. sár
(vulnus) veitti maðr mer eitt (unum), s&aolig-acute;r mörg (multa vulnera) veitta
ek hánum, Skálda (Thorodd), 162; &aolig-acute;l (= öl, cerevisia) er drykkr, &aolig-acute;l er
band (vinculum), id. 163; tungan er málinu v&aolig-acute;n (= vön, assuefacta), en
at tönnunum er bitsins v&aolig-acute;n (morsils exspectatio), id.: frequently in the
Grágás, lýsa sár sitt (vulnus) eðr s&aolig-acute;r (vulnera) ef fleiri eru, Kb. i. 151;
s&aolig-acute;r en minni (vulnera leviora), 170; en meire s&aolig-acute;r (graviora), 174;
síðan es s&aolig-acute;r eða ben voru lýst, 175; engi s&aolig-acute;r (nulla vulnera), s&aolig-acute;r, and
r&aolig-acute;ð, 176, 177; m&aolig-acute;l, ii. 51; v&aolig-acute;r, 158,

2 A.

C. OTHER CHANGES :– in modern Icel. the old syllable va has
changed into vo; vó of the 14th century being an intermediate form: thus
von, spes; votr, madidus; vor, ver; vorr, noster; voði, periculum; koma,adventus; voru, erant, etc.: so also the á in the dat. hánum, illi, now
honum, which is also employed in the editions of old writings; kómu =
kvámu = kvómu, veniebant, etc. In Norway a was often changed into æ in the pronominal and adverbial forms; as hæna, illam; þær, þænn, þæt,ibi, ilium, illud; hence originate the mod. Dan. hende, der, den, det;
in some Norse dialects even still dar, dat. The short a in endings
in mod. Dan. changed into e (æ), e. g. komme, uge, talede, Icel. koma,
vika; whereas the Swedes still preserve the simple a, which makes their
language more euphonious than the mod. Dan. In most districts of Icel.
an a before ng, nk, has changed into á, thus langr (longus), strangr
(durus), krankr (aegrotus) are spelt lángr, kránkr, etc. In the west
of Iceland however we still say langr, strangr, etc., which is the pure old
form. The a becomes long when followed by lf, lm, lp, thus álfr, genius;álpt, cygnus; hálfr, dimidius; kálfr, vitulus; sjálfr, ipse; this is very old:
the fem. h&aolig-acute;lf, dimidia, which occurs in the 12th century, points to
an á, not a; já = ja in hjálpa, skjálfa, etc. The lengthening before lm
is later, — álmr, ulmus; hálmr, calamus; sálmr, psalmus; hjálmr, ga-
lea; málmr, metallum, etc. In all these cases the á is not etymological.
Also before ln in the plur. of alin, álnar not alnar: lk, alka = alka, alca;
bálkr = balkr; fálki = falki, falco: háls = hals; frjáls = frjals; járn = jarn;
skáld = skald; v. those words: aarni, dat. of arinn, v. that word: the
proper name Árni, properly Arni: abbati, abbas, ábóti: Adám, on the
contrary, changed into Adam; Máría into Maria, Mary. The old spell-
ing is still kept in máriatla, motacilla pectore albo, etc. In the 1st pers.
pret. indic., and in the pres. and pret. conj. we have a changed into i, e. g.
talaða to talaði, locutus sum; sagða, dixi, vilda, volui, hafða, habui, to
sagði, vildi, hafði: in the 1st pers. pres. and pret. conj., hefða, haberem, hafa, habeam, to hefði, hafi. These forms occur as early as the begin-
ning of the 13th century (e. g. in the Hulda, Cd. A. M. 66, fol. = Fms.
vi. and vii). In the south of Iceland however (Reykjavik, the Árnes
and Gullbringusýsla) the old forms are still frequently heard in bisyllabic
preterites, esp. ek vilda, sagða, hafða, and are also employed in writing
by natives of those districts.
D. a answers to Goth, a; A. S. ea (a, ä); allr, totus; Goth, alls;
A. S. eall: the primitive á to Goth, ê, sátu, Goth, sêtun, sedebant; gráta,
grétun, lacrymari; láta, lêtan; vápn, vêpn, arma; vagr, vêgs, fluctus. The
Icel. secondary á, on the contrary, must in the kindred Teutonic idioms be
sought for under a vowel plus a consonant, such as an, ah, or the like.
A. S. æ commonly answers to Icel. á, láta, A. S. lætan; dáð, A. S. dæð; þráðr,
A. S. þræð, Engl. thread; mál (GREEK), A. S. mœl, cp. Engl. meal. The
A. S. (1, on the contrary, etyrnologically answers to Icel. ei. The diphthongau answers to Goth. au, A. S. eá, — rauðr, Goth. rauds, A. S. reað, Engl.red. In English the a seems at very early times to have assumed its
present ambiguous sound; this we may infer from A. S. words introduced
into Icelandic. The river Thames in Icel. is spelt, as it is still pronounced
in England, as Tems, which form occurs in a poem of the year 1016.
E. The Runic character for a was in the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon
Runes (so termed by P. A. Munch) RUNE [A. S. RUNE]; so in the Golden
horn, on the stone in Thune in Norway (Ed. by P. A. Munch, 1857),
and in the Bracteats. The Saxons called it os = áss, deus. In the
Runes it was the fourth letter in the first group (fuþork). The Scandi-
navians in their Runes used this character for o, and called it óss,ostium, probably misled by the A. S. pronunciation of the homely word
áss. This character, however, occurs only a few times in the common
Runes, which in its stead used the A. S. Rune RUNE, gér, annona, which is
the fourth Rune in the second group (hnias, A. S. hnijs), called according
to the northern pronunciation ár, annona: this letter, RUNE or RUNE has the
form, as well as the name and place, of the A. S. RUNE, RUNE.

A

-A or -AT or -T, a negative suffix to verbs, peculiar to Iceland and
a part, at least, of Norway. Occurs frequently in old Icelandic poetry
and laws, so as almost to form a complete negative voice. In the 1st
pers. a personal pronoun k (g) = ek is inserted before the negative suffix, in
the 2nd pers. a t or tt. As a rule the pron. as thus repeated; má-k-at-ek,non possum; sé-k-at-ek, non video; hef-k-at-ek, non habeo; skal-k-at-ek;
vil-k-at-ek, nolo; mon-k-at-ek, non ero, etc.: 2nd pers. skal-t-at-tu;
mon-t-at-tu; gaf-t-at-tu, non dabas: and after a long vowel a tt, mátt-at-
tu, sátt-at-tu; so almost invariably in all monosyllabic verbal forms; but
not so in bisyllabic ones, máttir-a-þú, non poteras: yet in some instances
in the 1st pers. a pronominal g is inserted, e. g. bjargi-g-a-k, verballyservem ego non ego; höggvi-g-a-k, non cædam; stöðvi-g-a-k, quin
sistam; vildi-g-a-k, nolui; hafði-g-a-k, non babui; mátti-g-a-k, non
potui; görði-g-a-k, non feci: if the verb has gg as final radical con-
sonants, they change into kk, e. g. þikk-at-ek = þigg-k-at-ek, nolo
accipere. In the 3rd pers. a and at or t are used indifferently, t being
particularly suffixed to bisyllabic verbal flexions ending in a vowel, in
order to avoid an hiatus, — skal-at or skal-a, non erit; but skolo-t, nonsunto: forms with an hiatus, however, occur, — bítí-a, non mordat; renni-a,ne currat; skríði-a, id.; leti-a, ne retardet; vaeri-a, ne esset; urðu-a,non erant; but bíti-t, renni-t, skríði-t, urðu-t are more current forms:
v. Lex. Poët. The negative suffix is almost peculiar to indic., conj.,
and imperat. moods; the neg. infin. hardly occurs. Nothing analogous to
this form is to be found in any South-Teutonic idiom; neither do there
remain any traces of its having been used in Sweden or Denmark.
A single exception is the Runic verse on a stone monument in Öland,
an old Danish province, now Swedish, where however the inscriptions
may proceed from a Norse or Icel. hand. The Runic inscriptions run
thus, sár aigi flo, who did not fly, old Icel. ‘flo-at,’ Baut. 1169. Neither
does it occur in any Norse prose monuments (laws): but its use may yet be
inferred from its occurrence in Norse poets of the 10th century, e. g. the
poets Eyvind and Thiodolf; some of which instances, however, may
be due to their being transmitted through Icel. oral tradition. In
Bragi Gamli (9th century) it occurs twice or thrice; in the Haustlöng
four times, in Ynglingatal four times, in Hákonarmál once (all Norse poems
of the 10th century). In Icel. the suffixed negation was in full force
through the whole of the 10th century. A slight difference in idioms,
however, may be observed: Völuspá, e. g., prefers the negation by né(using vas-at only once, verse 3). In the old Hávamal the suffix
abounds (being used thirty-five times), see the verses 6, 10, 11, 18,
26, 29, 30, 34, 37-39, 49, 51, 52, 68, 74, 88, 113-115, 126-128, 130,
134, 136, 147, 149, 151, 153, 159. In Skírnismál, Harbarðsljóð,
Lokasenna — all these poems probably composed by the same author,
and not before the loth century — about thirty times, viz. Hbl. 3, 4,
8, 14, 26, 35, 56; Skm. 5, 18, 22; Ls. 15, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 36, 42,
47, 49, 56, 60, 62. Egil (born circa 900, died circa 990) abounds in the
use of the suffixed neg. (he most commonly avails himself of -at, -gi, orné; so, too, does Hallfred (born circa 968, died 1008), Einar Skálaglam
in Vellekla (circa 940-995), and Thorarin in the Máhlíðingavísur (com-
posed in the year 981); and in the few epigrams relating to the introduc-
tion of Christianity in Icel. (995-1000) there occur mon-k-að-ek, tek-
k-at-ek, vil-k-at-ek, hlífði-t, mon-a, es-a; cp. the Kristni S. and Njala.
From this time, however, its use becomes more rare. Sighvat (born circa
995, died 1040) still makes a frequent but not exclusive use of it. Sub-
sequent poets use it now and then as an epic form, until it disappeared
almost entirely in poetry at the middle or end of the 13th century.
In the Sólarljóð there is not a single instance. The verses of some of our
Sagas are probably later than the Sagas themselves; the greatest part
of the Völsungakviður are scarcely older than the 11th century. In all
these -at and conj. eigi are used indifferently. In prose the laws continued
to employ the old forms long after they were abolished in common prose.
The suffixed verbal negation was used, a. in the delivering of the oath in the Icel. Courts, esp. the Fifth Court, instituted about the year 1004; and
it seems to have been used through the whole of the Icel. Commonwealth
(till the year 1272). The oath of the Fifth (High) Court, as preserved in
the Grágás, runs in the 1st pers., hefka ek fé borit í dóm þenna til liðs mér
um sök þessa, ok ek monka bjóða, hefka ek fundit, ok monka ek finna,
hvárki til laga né ólaga, p. 79; and again p. 81, only different as to ek
hefka, ek monka (new Ed.): 3rd pers., hefirat hann fé; borit í dóm þenna
ok monat hann bjóða, ok hefirat hann fundit, ok monat hann tinna,
80, 81; cp. also 82, and Nj. l. c. ch. 145, where it is interesting to
observe that the author confounds the ist and 3rd persons, a sign of
decay in grammatical form. β. the Speaker (lögsögumaðr), in publicly
reciting and explaining the law, and speaking in the name of the law,
from the Hill of Laws (lögberg), frequently employed the old form, esp.
in the legal words of command es and skal (yet seldom in plur.): erat
in the dictatorial phrases, erat skyldr (skylt), non esto obligatus; erat land-
eigandi skyldr, Grág. (Kb.) i. 17; erat hinn skyldr, 21; yngri maðr era
skyldr at fasta, 35; enda erat honum þá skylt at …, 48; erat þat sakar
spell, 127; era hinn þá skyldr at lýsa, 154; erat hann framar skyldr sak-
ráða, 216; ok erat hann skyldr at ábyrgjask þat fé, 238; ok erat hann
skyldr, id.; ok erat sakar aðili ella skyldr, ii. 74; erat hinn skyldr við at
taka, 142; erat manni skylt at taka búfé, 143; enda erat heimting til
fjár þess, 169; era hann þá skyldr at taka við í öðru fé nema hann vili,
209; ok erat þeim skylt at tíunda fé sitt, 211; ok erat hann skyldr at
gjalda tíund af því, 212; erat kirkjudrottinn þá skyldr, 228; ef hann
erat landeigaadi, i. 136. Skalat: skalat maðr eiga fó óborit, i. 23;
skalat homum þat verða optar en um siun, 55; skalat maðr ryðja við
sjálfan sik, 62; skalat hann þat svá dvelja, 68; skalat hann til véfangs
ganga, 71; skalat aðilja í stefnuvætti hafa, 127; ok skala hann gjalda
fyrir þat, 135; ok skalat hann með sök fara, 171; enda skalat hann
fleirum baugum bœta, 199; skalat hann skilja félagit, 240; skalat hann
meiri skuld eiga en, ii. 4; skalat þeim meðan á brott skipta, 5; skalat
hann lögvillr verða, svá, 34; skalat hon at heldr varðveita þat fé, 59; í
skalat enn sami maðr þar lengr vera, 71; ok skala honum bæta þat, 79;
skalat fyl telja, 89; skalat hann banna fiskför, 123; skalat hann lóga

aðild, older form aðilð, pl. ir, f. [root aðal], v. the following word
aðili. It doubtless originally meant chiefdom, headship, but it only
occurs in the limited legal sense of chief-prosecutorship or defendantship, and this only, as it seems, in Icel. not in Norse law. It is a standing
word in the Icel. codes and histories of the Commonwealth. It became

af-boð, n. threats, high words, Fms. x. 199; ofboð, n., is used of panic,fear, agony, and as a prefix in compds of boðs = exceedingly. So now the
modern verb ofbjóða, mostly used impers., e-m ofbýðr, to be shocked at, etc.

af-glapan and afglöpun, f. [v. the preceding word], used of rioting or
brawling in a court or at a meeting, to break the law or the peace; it is
also used of any illegal steps to stop the course of law, so that the plead-
ings are interrupted, and there is a flaw in the procedure, v. þingsafglöpun;
frequent in the Grágás and the Sagas; it was liable to the lesser outlawry,
v. above: bribery and false witness seem to be counted as þingsafglöpun
in Nj. 150, and were to be challenged to the High Court, Lv. 12, 31,
Nj., Grág., esp. in the þ. þ. etc.: v. Dasent, Introd. to Burnt Njal.

af-hending, f. a metrical term, a subdivision of the samhenda, when
the final assonance of a verse is repeated in the next one, e. g. seim þverrir
gefr seima | seim örr …, Edda (Ht. 47 and 24). In mod. Icel. metric,
afhenda is quite different, viz. a short metre in only two lines.

AFI, a, m. [cp. Lat. avus, Ulf. avô = GREEK, and aba = GREEK, vir],grandfather: it is now frequent, but occurs very rarely in old writers,
who almost always use móðurfaðir or föðurfaðir. Yet it occurs in the
poem Rm. 16 — afi ok amma — and Vþm. 29, where it = föðurfaðir. It
is curious to observe that in the poem Skm. — whence it is again transferred
into the Grógaldr — it is used in the sense of a boy or a son; cp. as an
illustration of this use the Norse phrase — D. N. iv. 848 — afi eptir afa =son after father, man after man in uninterrupted succession, in accord-
ance to the Gothic aba; Edda 108, Fms. iv. 288, vi. 346, xi. 6. We
also say lang-afi, great-grandfather, and langamma, great-grandmother. COMPD: afa-systir, f. great aunt, Landn. 317.

af-langr, adj. oblong, Ann. year 1414; formed from the Lat. (?), new
common.

af-lausn, f., Lat. absolutio. 1. some small release, ransom, com-
pensation, Sturl. iii. 142, 239; gjöra a. urn e-t, to relieve, release oneself in regard to a thing: Ólafr konungr mælti, ‘Framar hefir þú þá gert urn
vígin á Grænlandi, en fiskimaðrinn kallar a. vera fiskinnar; því at hann
kallast leysa sik, ef hann dregr fisk fyrir sik, enn annan fyrir skip sitt,
þriðja fyrir öngul, fjórða fyrir vað,” king Olaf said, ‘Thou hast done more
then in the matter of manslayings in Greenland, than what the fisherman
calls the ransom of his fishing; for he says that he has freed himself (of
his fishing), if he draws (up) a fish for himself, but another for his boat,
a third for his angle, a fourth for his line,’ (this way of reckoning their
catch is still common with fishermen in many parts of England and Scot-
land), Fbr. 154: cp. a stanza in a Scottish ballad, ‘I launched my boat
in Largo Bay, | And fishes caught í three; | One for wad and one forhook, | And one was left for me.’ 2. eccles. = absolution, K. Á. 226,
Hom. 137, Grett. 162, Fms. x. 18.

af-leiðingr, s, m., skilja góðan afleiðing, used adverb. to part on friendly
terms, Sturl. iii. 134: cp. the preceding word, 128; both passages are taken,
from the þorgils S. Skarða, to which the phrase seems to be peculiar.

afrendr, adj. [frequently or almost constantly spelt afreyndr, as if
from ‘af-‘ intens. and ‘raun,’ of great prowess; but the derivation from
‘afr-= afar-‘ and ‘-endi or -indi’ is better]. I. in the phrase, a. at
afli, very strong, valiant, Fms. ii. 87, Finnb. 254; compar. afrendari, Fms. x.
321, Fs. 33, 48 (where the MS. Vh. spells afreyndr, so also does the Fb. i. 341,
etc.) II. absol. without adding at afli, Lv. 101 (where written

af-taka, n, f. = aftak: 1. gener. loss, privation; a. ok missa, of a
personal loss by death, Edda 37. 2. death by violent means, slaughter; til aftöku manna eðr fú upp at taka, for the cutting off of men or the con-
fiscation of their goods, Eg. 73, 252; hann hafði verit at aftöku þorkels
fústra, Fms. vii. 201, Orkn. 22 old Ed. Formerly there were no public
executions in Icel., except the stoning of wizards or witches, Ld. ch. 98,
Eb. ch. 20, Vd. ch. 26; and the hanging of thieves, Fbr. ch. 19, Kb. l. c.
Now, however, used in the sense of public execution, and in various
compds, e. g. aftöku-staðr, m. place of execution, etc.

AGN, n. bait, Barl. 123, Niðrst. 623. 3. There is now in many
cases a distinction between agn, bait for foxes and land animals, and
beita, bait for fish; but in the poem Hým. 18, 22, at least, agn is used of
fishing; ganga á agnið is to nibble or take the bait: cp. egna.

AL- [A. S. eal-; Engl. all, al-; Germ, all-] , a prefix to a great many
nouns and participles, but only a few verbs, denoting thoroughly, quite,
perfectly, completely, answering to Lat. omni- and Gr. GREEK- or GREEK-. If
followed by a u or v it sometimes changes into öl, e. g. ölúð, benignitas;ölværð, laetitia: ölteiti, hilaritas, is irregular, instead of alteiti. The
prefixed particle al- differs from all-, which answers to Lat. per-, A. S.eall-, Engl. very: v. the following compds.

al-gildr, adj. of full value, in a verse in Fs. 94; now common, opp. to
hálfgildr, of half value, or ógildr, valueless.

al-gjafl, prob. a false reading, N. G. L. i. 347 = frjálsgjafi.

al-gjafta, adj. ind. stall-fed, of cattle, Ísl. ii. 38.

al-gleymingr, m. [glaumr], great glee, great mirth, in the phrase, slá
á algleyniing, to be in great glee, to be very merry, Stud. iii. 123. The
Icel. now say, að komast í algleyrning, to run high, to the highest point.

al-góðr,adj. perfectly good, now used of God. β. albeztr kostr, by
far the best match (Germ. allerbester), Ld. 88.

al-henda, u, f. a metrical term, a subdivision of dróttkvætt, a metre
having two rhymed couplets in every line; if one of these be half rhyme it
is called a. hin minni (the minor alhenda), if both be full rhymes it is a.
meiri (complete alhenda), Edda (Ht.) 132, Sturl. ii. 56: thus harð-múlavarð Skúli is a complete alhenda.

al-hnepptr, adj. part, (metric.) an apocopate (hneppt) species of the
metre dróttkvætt w ith masculine rhymes, v. hnept and hálfhnept. Thus
defined, Edda (Ht.), verse 78; it is called alhneppt, where all the rhymes
are masculine; but hálfhneppt, where feminines and masculines are used
alternately.

al-hreinn, adj. quite pure, clean, Hom. 107.

al-huga and ölhuga or öluga, by eliding the h and changing the
vowel through the following u, adj. ind. [hugr], whole-hearted, in full
earnest, Sturl. iii. 272, v. l.; ölhuga &aolig-acute;st, sincere love, Greg. 17.

ALIN, f. A dissyllabic form alun appears in old poetry, v. Lex. Poët.
In early prose writers a monosyllabic form öln prevails in nom. dat. acc.
sing., D. I. i. 310. l. 22 (MS. of the year 1275), 314. l. 16 (MS. year
1250), 311, 312. l. 16, 313. l. 7, 89. l. 1. Nom. pl., α. the old, alnar; β.
the later, alnir: the former in -ar, in D. I. i. 309 (a MS. of the year 1275),
310-312 (MS. year 1370), 313, 316. l. 19, 318. 1. 15. The pl. in -ir,
D. I. i. 89 sqq., in MSS. of the 13th and 14th centuries. In the con-
tracted form aln- the simple radical vowel soon became a diphthongal á, viz. álnar, álnir, álnum, álna, and is at present so spelt and pronounced.
We find an acute accent indeed in álna (gen pl.), D. I. i. 313. l. 25 (MS.
year 1375), and dinar, id. l, 7; álnom, 1. 28; ölnum with changed vowel,
N. G. L. i. 323 (in an Icel. transcript). The present declension is, nom.
acc. alin, gen. álnar; pl. nom. acc. álnir, gen. álna, dat. alnum. I.
properly the arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger [Gr. GREEK , Lat. ulna, cp. A. S. el-boga, Engl. el-bow, etc.]; almost obsolete, but still
found in the words ölbogi qs. öln-bogi, ‘elbow,’ and úlf-liðr, prop. uln- or óln-
liðr, wrist, commonly pronounced unl-liðr [false etymol., v. Edda, p. 17];
cp. Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 19, where tungl (luna) and unl– rhyme. Freq. in poetry in
such compounds as alun-leygr, -brandr, ölun-grjót, alnar-gim, alin-leygr, the
standing poët, name of gold and gems being ignis or lapis cubiti. II.
mostly metaph.: 1. an ell, [Ulf. aleina; A. S. eln; Engl. ell; O. H. G.elina; Dan. alen; Lat. ulna, cp. cubitum] ; the finger, arm, foot were
the original standards for measure. The primitive ell measured the length
from the elbow to the point of the second finger, and answered to about
half a yard Engl. = 18 inches. The Icel. ell before the year 12OO measured
just half a yard. About this year, by a law of bishop Paul, the ell was
doubled into a stika, a stika being precisely = two ells = an Engl. ell of
that time. To prevent the use of bad measure, a just and lawful stika
(yard) was marked on the walls of the churches, esp. that at Thingvellir,
as an authorised standard, Páls S. ch. 9, Bs. i. 135, D. I. i. 309, 316, Jb. Kb.
26; ensk lérept tveggja álna, English linen of two ells measure, id.; þat er
mælt, at at graftar kirkju hverri skal mæla stiku lengd, þá er rétt sé at hafa
til álna máls, ok megi menn þar til ganga ef á skilr um alnar, 309. During
the whole of the 15th century the Icel. trade was mainly in British hands;
thus the Engl. double ell probably prevailed till the end of the 15th or be-
ginning of the 16th century. The Hanse Towns ell = 21 1/11. UNCERTAIN inches was
then introduced, and abolished in the year 1776, when the Dan. ell = 24
inches came into use. At present the Hanse Towns ell is called Íslenzk
alin (Icel. ell), and the original half-yard ell is quite obsolete; cp. Jón Sigurðs-
son in D. I. i. 306-308, and Pál Vidal. s. v. alin. 2. a unit of value, viz. an ell (half-yard measure) of woollen stuff (vaðmál); the vaðmál (Hal-
liwell wadmal, Engl. woadmal, Orkn. and Shell, wadmaal and vadmel) was in Icel. the common medium of payment, whence an ell became the
standard unit of value or property, whether in land or chattels; 120 ells make a hundred, v. that word. In D. I. i. 316 we are told that, about
the year 1200, three ells were equal in value to one ounce of ordinary
silver, whence the expression þriggja álna eyrir (a common phrase during
the 13th century). The value of the ell of vaðmal, however, varied
greatly; during the 11th and 12th centuries six ells made an ounce, D. I.
i. 88. In Norway we find mentioned níu, ellifu álna aurar (nine, eleven
ells to an ounce). In Grág. (Kb.) ii. 192, § 245, it is said that, about the
year 1000, four ells in Icel. made an ounce, and so on; vide Dasent,
Essay in 2nd vol. of Burnt Njal., and Pal Vidal. s. v. alin. COMPDS:álnar-borð, n. a board an ell long, N. G. L. i. 100. álnar-breiðr,
adj. an ell broad, Fas. ii. 118. alnar-kefli, n. a stajf an ell long, Grág. ii. 339, Ld. 318. álnar-langr, adj. ell-long, Grág. ii. 359.álnar-tíund, f. tithe of the value of an ell, K. Á. 100. álnar-virði,
n. equal in value to an ell, K. Á. 194. álna-sök, f. action for bad
measure, Grág. i. 472.

al-mæltr, adj. part, spoken by all, what all say; esp. in the phrase,
almælt tíðindi, news; spyrjast almæltra tíðinda, what news? Nj. 227, Ld.
80, Fms. xi. 118 (a standing phrase). β. of a child that has learnt to
talk; en þá er sveinninn var tvævetr, þá rann hann einn saman ok var a.
sem fjögra vetra gömul börn, but when the boy was two years old, then he
ran alone and could say everything as well as bairns of four years, Ld. 34,
(altalandi is the word now used.)

ALR, s, m. pl. ir, awl, Edda 71. β in the phrase, ‘leíka UNCERTAIN á als oddi,’
skjálfa þótti húsit, sem á als oddi léki (MS. allsolla), the house quivered,
as if it were balanced on the point of an awl, Fas. i. 89; the Icel. now use
C UNCERTAIN

18 ALRAUÐR — ALÞINGI.

the phrase, að leika á als oddi, of the excitement produced by joy, to be
merry, in high spirits, full of life and vigour, (cp. the Engl. to be on pins
and needles.)

al-skjaldaðr, adj. part, lined, covered with shields: α. of ships
lined with shields along the bulwarks from stem to stern, as a ship of war,
Landn. 156, Sturl. iii. 61. β. of troops in full armour, Sturl. ii. 47.

al-þingi, n. [þing], mod. form albing, by dropping the inflective i;
the gen., however, still remains unchanged, alþingis. The parliament orgeneral assembly of the Icel. Commonwealth, invested with the supreme
legislative and judicial power, consisting of the legislative lögrétta (q. v.),
and the courts, v. dómr, fimtardómr, fjórðungsdómar; v. also goði,
goðorð, lügsögumaðr, lögsaga, lögberg, and many other words referring to
the constitution and functions of the alþingi. It was founded by Ulfljot
about A. D. 930, Ib. ch. 3; and reformed by Thord Gellir A. D. 964, who
instituted the courts and carried out the political divisions of Icel. into
goðorð, fjórðungar, and þing, ch. 5. In the years 1272 and 1281 the
alþing, to some extent, changed its old forms, in order to comply with
the new state of things. In the year 1800 it was abolished altogether.
A kind of parliament, under the old name alþingi, was again established
in the year 1843, and sat at Reykjavík. Before the year 930 a general
assembly was held in Kjalarnes, whence it was removed under the name
of alþingi to the river Öxará, near to the mountain Ármannsfell. The
much-debated passage in Hænsaþ. S. ch. 14 — en þingit var þá undir
Ármannsfelli — therefore simply means that the events referred to hap-
pened after the removal of the Kjalarnesping. The parliament at first
met on the Thursday beginning the tenth week of the summer, which
fell between the 11th and the 17th of June; by a law of the year 999
its opening was deferred to the next following Thursday, between the
18th and 24th of June, old style; after the union with Norway, or
after A. D. 1272 or 1281, the time of meeting was further deferred to
June 29. July 2 (Vis. B. V. M.) is hence called Þing-Maríumessa. The
parliament lasted for a fortnight; the last day of the session, called

ALÞINGISDOMR — ANDBLASINN. 19

vápnatak, because the weapons having been laid aside during the session
were again taken (cp. Engl. wapentake), thus fell on the first or second
Wednesday in July. As to the rules of the alþingi, vide esp. the first chapter
of the Þ. Þ. Grág. (Kb.) i. p. 38 sqq. The most eventful years in the history
of the alþingi are, A. D. 930 (foundation), 964 (reform), 1000 (introduction
of Christianity), 1004 (institution of the Fifth Court), 1024 (repudiation
of the attempt of the king of Norway to annex Iceland), 1096 (introduc-
tion of tithes), 1117 (first codification of laws), 1262-1264 (submission to
the king of Norway), 1272 and 1281 (new codes introduced). In the year
1338 there was no alþing held because of civil disturbances, eytt alþingi
ok þóttu þat údærni, Ann. s. a., Grág. (Þ. Þ.) Íslend. bók, Kristni S., Njála,
Sturl., Árna b. S., Ó. H. (1853), ch. 114; of modern writers, vide esp.
Maurer, Entsteh. des Ísl. Staates; Dasent, Introd. to Burnt Njal; some
of the Introductions by Jón Sigurðsson in D. I., esp. that to the Gamli
Sáttmáli of the year 1262. COMPDS: alþingis-dómr, m. the court of
justice in the a., Grág. i. 87, 130, alþingis-för, f. a journey to the a., Js. 6. alþingis-helgun, f. hallowing, inauguration of the a., cp.
allsherjar goði, Landn. 336. alþingis-lof, n. permission, leave given
by parliament; ef… sættist á víg fyrir a. fram, against the rules of the a. = unlawfully, Grág. ii. 173. alþingis-mál, n. parliamentary rules,
proceedings of parliament; ef þeir taka eigi af alþingismáli, do not in-
fringe the parliamentary rules, Grág. i. 103: in the legal phrase, at
alþingismáli réttu ok allsherjar lögum, where the first rather denotes the
form, the last the substance of the law. alþingis-nefna, u, f. nomi-
nation to the legislative body and the courts, including dómnefna and
lögréttuskipan, Grág. i. 5; cp. Íb. ch. 5. alþingis-reið, f. a journey
to the a., Nj. 100, Grág. ii. 78. alþingis-sátt, f. an agreement entered
into at the a. alþingiasáttar-hald, n. the keeping of sucb an agree-
ment, Grág. i. 217, Sturl. i. 66. alþingis-sekt, f. a conviction in the
courts. alþingissektar-hald, n., Stud. i. 66 (seems to be a false
reading); v. the preceding word.

AMLÓÐI, a, m. 1. the true name of the mythical prince of
Denmark, Amlethus of Saxo, Hamlet of Shakespeare. 2. now used
metaph. of an imbecile, weak person, one of weak bodily frame, wanting
in strength or briskness, unable to do his work, not up to the mark.
It is used in phrases such as, þú ert mesti Amlóði, what a great A. you are, i. e. poor, weak fellow. In a poem of the 10th century (Edda 67), the sea-
shore is called the flour-bin of Amlode (meldr-lið Amlúða, navis farinae
Amlodif), the sand being the flour, the sea the mill: which recals the
words of Hamlet in Saxo, — ‘sabulum perinde ac farra aspicere jussus
eadem albicantibus maris procellis permolita esse respondit.’ From this
poem it may be inferred that in the 10th century the tale of Hamlet was
told in Icel., and in a shape much like that given it by Saxo about 250
years later. Did not Saxo (as he mentions in his preface) write his story
from the oral tradition of Icelanders? In Iceland this tale was lost, together
with the Skjölduaga Saga. The Icel. Ambales Saga MS. in the Brit. Mus.
is a modern composition of the 17th century. COMPDS now in freq.
use: amlóðaligr, adj. imbecile; amlóða-skapr, m., or amlóða-háttr,imbecility; also amlóðast, dep. Torfaeus, in his Series Reg. Dan. p. 302,
quotes an old Swedish rhyme running thus: ‘Tha slog konungen handom
samman | och log fast och gorde aff gamnian | rett some han vore en
Amblode | then sig intet godt forstode,’ where it means a fool, simpleton, denoting a mental imbecility. [Perhaps the A. S. homola is cognate;
thus in the Laws of King Alfred, ‘ Gif he hine on bismor to homolan bescire,’ if he in mockery shave his (a churl’s) head like a fool, which
Lambarde renders morionis in morem: see Thorpe’s Anc. Laws ii. Gloss.
sub voce, and cp. the quotation from Weber’s Metrical Romances ii. 340.]

AN, conj. than, Lat. quam, is the old form, and constantly used in
MSS. of the 12th century, instead of ‘en’ or ‘enn,’ q. v.

ANA, að, to rush on, now freq.

AND-, a prefixed prep. [Ulf. uses a separate prep. and; A. S. and-; Germ, ant-, ent-, empf-; it exists in Engl. in an-swer; Lat. ante-; Gr.
GREEK], denoting whatever is opposite, against, towards, and metaph.hostile, adverse; freq. spelt and pronounced an- or ann-; it is used in a
great many compds, v. below. If followed by v, the a changes into ö,
e. g. öndverðr, adversus; in andvirði, prize, however, the a is unchanged.

and-óf, n. prob. = and-þóf, prop. a paddling with the oars, so as to
bring the boat to lie against wind and stream. Metaph., við nokkuru
andófi, after a somewhat hard struggle, Fbr. 84. 2. a division in a
ship, fremsta rúm í skipi kallast a., Fél. ix. 3.

and-ramr, adj. (andremma, u, f.) having foul breath, Sturl. i. 20.

ANDRAR, m. pl. [Ivar Aasen a wander], snow shoes, in sing. prob.
öndurr, cp. the compds öndor-dís and öndor-goð, used of the goddess
Skaði, in the Edda; found only in Norway, where the word is still in use;
in Icel. only remaining in the proverb snæliga snuggir kváðu Finnar, áttu
andra fala, Fms. vii. 20, of a silly act, to sell one’s snow shoes just when
it begins to snow. Prob. a Finnish word; v. skíð.

and-rá, f. [contr. = anddrag(?), mod. word], breath, in the phrase, í
sömu a., at the very same breath, instantly.

angi, a, m. [Norse angie] . I. sweet odour; þvílíkan ilm ok
anga sem cedrus, Stj. 73, etc. II. [cp. A. S. anga = aculeus,
stimulus], a spine or prickle, in the phrase, þetta mál hefir anga, has a
sting, is not good to touch, Bs. ii. 52. Now often used in pl. and used of a sprout, fibre in fruits or plants; metaph. a spoilt boy is called angi, ‘a
pickle:’ as to the root, cp. öngull, hamus, and the English angle: angilja,
u, f. is, according to Björn, one of the bones of a fish.

an-könn, f. [and-kenna], a flaw, fault, = anmarki, only as gen. pl. in
the COMPDS ankanna-fullr, adj. full of faults, Sks. 76 new Ed., v. l.ankanna-laust, n. adj. a law term, uncontested, used of an inheritance
or possession where there is no legal claimant; skal hann eignast a. allt
Noregs konungs veldi, he s hall hold as his own all the power of Norway’s
king without a rival, Fagrsk. 97; Magnús konungr hafði þá ríki einn-
saman ok a., i. e. there were no pretenders, Fms. x. 413.

apaldr, rs, m. pl. rar, [O. H. G. aphaltrâ; A. S. apuldre; Dan. abild; Swed. apel], doubtless a southern word, the inflective syllable dr being a mutilation of ‘tré,’ arbor, a word now almost extinct in Germany, (for a homely, common word such as ‘tré’ could not have been corrupted in the native tongue); — apaldr thus, etymologically as well as properly, means an apple-tree; fruits and fruit-trees were doubtless

APALDRSGARÐR — APTRHVARF. 23

imported into Scandinavia from abroad; the word appears only in the later heroic poems, such as the Hkv. Hjörv. 6; the verses in Sdm. 5 are in a different metre from the rest of the poem, and probably interpolated, Fas. i. 120; epli á apaldri, Sks. 106; tveir apaldar (with the radical r dropped), Fas. iii. 60; apaldrs flúr, Karl. 200, 311: as the etymological sense in the transmuted word soon got lost, a fresh pleonastic compound was made, viz. apaldrs-tré. COMPDS: apaldrs-garðr, m. [Dan. abild-gaard], orchard of apple-trees, Þiðr., D. N. apaldrs-klubba, u, f. club made of an a., El. 22. apaldrs-tré, n. apple-tree, Þiðr. 58.

apal-grár, adj. dapple-gray, i.e. apple-gray, having the streaky colour of an apple (cp. Fr. pommelé), of a horse, Nj. 274, Karl. 426, Landn. 93 (where it is used of a river horse); of an ox, uxi a. at lit, Ld. 120.

API, a, m. [A. S. apa; Erse apa; Bohem. op; Germ. affe; all of them dropping the initial guttural tenuis: Sanskr. kapi], an ape. It appears in early times in the metaph. sense of a fool in the old poem Hm. and even in a proverb; so also in the poems Fm. 11 and Gm. 34, vide Lex. Poët. A giant is in Edda (Gl.) called api, no doubt because of the stupid nature of the giants. Apavatn, a farm in Icel., probably got its name from a nickname of one of the settlers, at the end of the 9th century. In Hým. 20 a giant is called áttrunnr apa, the kinsman of apes. The passage in the Hm. verse 74 appears to be corrupt, and ought to be restored thus, margr verðr af aurum api, the fool of earthly things, cp. the passage in Sl. 34, margan hefir auðr apat, which is another version of the very same proverb. It is esp. used in the connection, ósvinns-api or ósviðra-api, a baboon, big fool, Gm. l.c., Fm. l.c.; (the passage in Hm. 123 ought perhaps to be restored to ósvinns-apa or ósvinnra-apa in a single word; the sense is no doubt the same in all these passages.) Rare in old prose in the proper sense of ape, vide however 673. 55. COMPD: apa-mynd, n. form of an ape, Th. 76.

aptr-borinn, adj. part. regenerate, born again; þars hón aptrborin aldri verði, the sense is doubtful, it seems to mean = endrborin, regenerate; it will suit the context only if we suppose that suicides could not be born again; they certainly could walk again, v. aptrganga. Högni seems to fear that, if she died a natural death, Brynhilda would perhaps be endrborin, Skv. 3. 44.

aptr-hryggr, m. the chine, the lower part of the back, of a slaughtered animal, Dipl. vi.

aptr-hvarf, n. a turning back, return, Sturl. ii. 16; illr aftrhvarfs, disinclined to face the enemy again, Fms. vii. 325. β.relapse, Fms. ii. 47, where it is used of apostasy. Since the Reformation always used by theologians in a good sense, repentance, turning away from sin; iðran ok a. are freq. used together, iðran being repentance, the internal condition, aptrhvarf the movement away from sin, or the repentance put into act.

24 APTRKALL — ARI.

aptr-kall, n. withdrawal, recalling, Fr.

aptr-kast, n. a hurling back, repulse, Stj. 288.

aptr-kemba, u, f. one whose hair is combed back, Finnb. 250.

aptr-kváma and later form aptrkoma, u, f. return, coming back, Sks. 550 B; Fms. xi. 312, a vellum MS. of the end of the 15th century, has aptrkoma.

aptr-kvæmt, n. adj. return from exile, used substantively as a law term in the phrase, eiga (eigi) a., of a temporary or lifelong exile; þat varðar skóggang… eigi eigi a. nema lof biskupa ok lögréttumanna fáist framar, … not to be suffered to return from exile unless the leave of the bishops and the legislature be first got, Grág. i. 347: in a gener. sense, sýnist mér sem engum várum sé a., ef hans er eigi hefnt, it seems to me that not one of us can shew his face again, if he be not revenged, Glúm. 332.

arf-sal, n. cession of right of inheritance, Grág. i. 205, 225, 227, (cp. branderfð, Dan. fledföre, mod. Icel. prófenta, and gefa prófentu sína); a law term, to hand over one’s own property to another man on condition of getting succour and support for life. In the time of the Commonwealth, arfsal had a political sense, and was a sort of ‘clientela;’ the chiefs caused rich persons, freedmen, and monied men of low birth to bequeath them all their wealth, and in return supported them in lawsuits during life. Such is the case in Vápn. 13, Hænsaþór. S. ch. 7, Eb. ch. 31; eptir þat handsalaði Ulfarr (a wealthy freedman) Arnkatli fé sitt allt, ok gerðist hann (viz. Arnkell) þá varnaðarmaðr (protector) Úlfars: v. also Þórð. S., hann bjó á landi Skeggja ok hafði görzt arfsalsmaðr hans (his client), 50: it was humiliating; engar mátti hann (the bishop) ölmusur gefa af líkamlegri eign, heldr var hann haldinn sem arfsalsmaðr, Sturl. ii. 119. To the chiefs in olden times it was a source of wealth and influence, often in an unfair way. COMPDS: arfsals-maðr, m., v. above. arfsals-máldagi, a, m. a deed concerning arfsal, Grág. i. 227.

mostly in poetry; örn is the common word; Hom. 89, Stj. 71, Al. 160. In the Gloss. Royal Libr. Old Coll. Copenh. 1812 aquila is translated by ari. COMPD: ara-hreiðr, n. an eyrie, nest of an eagle, Fagrsk. 146. Ari is also a common pr. name.

arin-dómr m. gossip, ‘judgment at the hearth-side,’ Hom.; now palldómr.

arin-greypr, adj. occurs thrice in poetry as an epithet of the benches in a hall and of a helmet, encompassing the hearth, or shaped as an eagle’s bill, Akv. 1, 3. 17.

arin-haukr, m. a chimney-sitter, an old man; in the phrase, áttræðr er a. ok eldaskári, an octogenarian is an a. and a poker, Lex. Run.

arin-hella, u, f. [Norse aarhelle or aarstadhyll, the pavement around the hearth], hearth-stone; í a. þar í stofunni, Bs. i. 680. Now in Icel. used in nursery tales of treasures or the like hidden under the arinhella.

AT and að, prep., often used ellipt. dropping the case and even merely as an adverb, [Lat. ad; Ulf. at = GREEK and GREEK, A. S. ät; Engl. at; Hel. ad = apud; O. H. G. az; lost in mod. Germ., and rare in Swed. and Dan.; in more freq. use in Engl. than any other kindred language, Icel. only excepted]:– the mod. pronunciation and spelling is að (aþ); this form is very old, and is found in Icel. vellum MSS. of the 12th century, e.g. aþ, 623. 60; yet in earlier times it was sounded with a tenuis, as we may infer from rhymes, e.g. jöfurr hyggi at | hve ek yrkja fat, Egill: Sighvat also makes it rhyme with a t. The verse by Thorodd — þar vastu at er fjáðr klæðið þvat (Skálda 162) — is hardly intelligible unless we accept the spelling with an aspirate (að), and say that þvað is = þvá = þváði, lavabat; it may be that by the time of Thorodd and Ari the pure old pronunciation was lost, or is

II. WITHOUT MOTION; denoting presence at,
near, by, at the side of, in, upon; connected with verbs like sitja, standa,
vera…; at kirkju, at church, Fms. vii. 251, K. f). K. 16, Ld. 328, Ísl. ii.
270, Sks. 36; vera at skála, at húsi, to be in, at home, Landn. 154; at
landi, Fms. i. 82; at skipi, on shipboard, Grág. i. 209, 215; at oldri, at
a banquet, inter pocula; at áti, at dinner, at a feast, inter edendum, ii.
169, 170; at samförum ok samvistum, at public meetings, id.; at dómi,in a court; standa (to takeone‘s stand) norðan, sunnan, austan, vestan at
dómi, freq. in the proceedings at trials in lawsuits, Nj.; at þingi, present
at the parliament, Grág. i. 142; at lögbergi, o n the hill of laws, 17, Nj.;
at baki e-m, at the back of. 2. denoting presence, partaking in; sitja at mat, to sit at meat, Fms. i. 241; vera at veizlu, brullaupi, to be at a
banquet, nuptials, Nj. 51, Ld. 70: a law term, vera at vígi, to be an acces-
sory in manslaying, Nj. 89, 100; vera at e-u simply means to be about, be
busy in, Fms. iv. 237; standa at máli, to stand by one in a case, Grág. ii.
165, Nj. 214; vera at fóstri, to be fostered, Fms. i. 2; sitja at hégóma,to listen to nonsense, Ld. 322; vera at smíð, to be at one’s work, Þórð. 62: now absol., vera at, to go on with, be busy at. 3. the
law term vinna eið at e-u has a double meaning: a. vinna eið at bók,
at baugi, to make an oath upon the book by laying the band upon it, Landn.
258, Grág., Nj.; cp. Vkv. 31, Gkv. 3. 3, Hkv. 2. 29, etc.: ‘við’ is
now used in this sense. β. to confirm a fact (or the like) by an oath, to swear to,
Grág. i. 9, 327. γ. the law phrase, nefna vátta at e-u, of
summoning witnesses to a deed, fact, or the like; nefna vátta at benjum,to produce evidence, witnesses as to the wounds, Nj., Grág.; at görð, Eg.
738; at svörum, Grág. i. 19: this summoning of witnesses served in old
lawsuits the same purpose as modern pleadings and depositions; every
step in a suit to be lawful must be followed by such a summoning or
declaration. 4. used ellipt., vera at, to be about, to be busy at; kvalararnir
er at vóru at pína hann, who were tormenting him; þar varstu
at, you were there present, Skálda 162; at várum þar, Gísl. (in a verse):
as a law term ‘ vera at’ means to be guilty, Glúm. 388; vartattu at þar,
Eg. (in a verse); hence the ambiguity of Glum’s oath, vask at þar, 7 was
there present: var þar at kona nokkur (was there busy) at binda sár
manna, Fms. v. 91; hann var at ok smíðaði skot, Rd. 313; voru Varbelgir
at (about) at taka af, þau lög …, Fms. ix. 512; ek var at ok vafk, /was about weaving, xi. 49; þeir höfðu verit at þrjú sumur, they had been
busy at it for three summers, x. 186 (now very freq.); koma at, come in, to
arrive unexpectedly; Gunnarr kom at í því, G. came in at that moment; hvaðan komtú nú at, whence did you come? Nj. 68, Fms. iii. 200. 5.
denoting the kingdom or residence of a king or princely person; konungr
at Danmörk ok Noregi, king of…, Fms. i. 119, xi. 281; konungr, jarl,
at öllum Noregi, king, earl, over all N., íb. 3, 13, Landn. 25; konungr
at Dyflinni, king of Dublin, 25; but í or yfir England!, Eg. 263: cp. the
phrase, sitja at landi, to reside, of a king when at home, Hkr. i. 34; at
Joini, Fms. xi. 74: used of a bishop; biskup at Hólum, bishop of Hólar, Íb.
18, 19; but biskup í Skálaholti, 19: at Rómi, at Rome, Fbr. 198. 6.
in denoting a man’s abode (vide p. 5, col. I, I. 27), the prep, ‘at’ is used
where the local name implies the notion of by the side of, and is therefore
esp. applied to words denoting a river, brook, rock, mountain, grove, or the like, and in some other instances, by, at, e. g. at Hofi (a temple),
Landn. 198; at Borg (a castle), 57; at Helgafelli (a mountain), Eb. con-
stantly so; at Mosfelli, Landn. 190; at Hálsi (a hill), Fms. xi. 22; at
Bjargi, Grett. 9O; Hálsum, Landn. 143; at Á (river), 296, 268; at Bægisá,
212; Giljá, 332; Myrká, 211; Vatnsá, id.; þverá, Glúm. 323; at Fossi
(a ‘force’ or waterfall), Landn. 73; at Lækjamoti (waters-meeting), 332;
at Hlíðarenda (end of the lithe or hill), at Bergþórshváli, Nj.; at Lundi
(a grove), at Melum (sandhill), Landn. 70: the prep. ‘ á’ is now used
in most of these cases, e. g. á Á, á Hofi, Helgafelli, Felli, Hálsi, etc. β.
particularly, and without any regard to etymology, used of the abode
of kings or princes, to reside at; at Uppsölum, at Haugi, Alreksstöðum,
at Hlöðum, Landn., Fms. γ. konungr lét kalla at stofudyrum, the king
made a call at the hall door, Eg. 88; þeir kölluðu at herberginu, they
called at the inn, Fms. ix. 475. 7. used ellipt. with a gen., esp. if
connected with such words as gista, to be a guest, lodge, dine, sup (of
festivals or the like) at one’s home; at Marðar, Nj. 4; at hans, 74; þing-
festi at þess bóanda, Grág. i. 152; at sín, at one’s own home, Eg. 371,
K. Jj. K. 62; hafa náttstað at Freyju, at the abode of goddess Freyja, Eg.
603; at Ránar, at Ran’s, i. e. at Ran’s house, of drowned men who belong
to the queen of the sea, Ran, Eb. 274; at hins heilaga Ólafs konungs, at
St. Olave’s church, Fms. vi. 63: cp. ad Veneris, GREEK GREEK

B. TEMP. I. at, denoting a point or period of time; at
upphafi, at first, in the beginning, Ld. 104; at lyktum, at síðustu, at
lokum, at last; at lesti, at last, Lex. Poët., more freq. á lesti; at skilnaði,at parting, at last, Band. 3; at fornu, in times of yore, formerly, Eg. 267,
0. 1. 1. 635; at sinni, as yet, at present; at nýju, anew, of present time; at
eilífu, for ever and ever; at skömmu, soon, shortly, Ísl. ii. 272, v. l. H-

AT. 27

of the very moment when anything happens, the beginning of a term;
denoting the seasons of the year, months, weeks, the hours of the day;
at Jólum, at Yule, Nj. 46; at Pálmadegi, on Palm Sunday, 273; at
Páskum, at Easter; at Ólafsvöku, on St. Olave’s eve, 29th of July, Fms.; at vetri, at the beginning of the winter, on the day when winter
sets in, Grág. 1. 151; at sumarmálum, at vetrnáttum; at Tvímánaði,when the Double month (August) begins, Ld. 256, Grág. i. 152; at
kveldi, at eventide, Eg. 3; at því meli, at that time; at eindaga, at
the term, 395; at eykð, at 4 o’clock p.m., 198; at öndverðri æfi Abra
hams, Ver. II; at sinni, now at once, Fms. vi. 71; at öðruhverju, every
now and then. β. where the point of time is marked by some event;
at þingi, at the meeting of parliament (18th to the 24th of June), Ld.
182; at féránsdómi, at the court of execution, Grág. i. 132, 133; at
þinglausnum, at the close of the parliament (beginning of July), 140; at
festarmálum, eðr at eiginorði, at betrothal or nuptials, 174; at skilnaði,when they parted, Nj. 106 (above); at öllum minnum, at the general
drinking of the toasts, Eg. 253; at fjöru, at the ebb; at flæðum, at flood
tide, Fms. viii. 306, Orkn. 428; at hrörum, at an inquest, Grág. i. 50
(cp. ii. 141, 389); at sökum, at prosecutions, 30; at sinni, now, as yet, v.
that word. III. ellipt., or adding ‘komanda’ or ‘er kemr,’ of the
future time: 1. ellipt., komanda or the like being understood,
with reference to the seasons of the year; at sumri, at vetri, at hausti,
at vári, next summer, winter…, Ísl. ii. 242; at miðju sumri, at
ári, at Midsummer, next year, Fas. i. 516; at miðjum vetri, Fms. iv.
237, 2. adding ‘komanda’ or ‘ er kemr;’ at ári komanda, Bárð.
177; at vári er kemr, Dipl. iii. 6. IV. used with an absolute
dat. and with a pres. part.: 1. with pres. part.; at morni komanda,on the coming morrow, Fms. i. 263; at sér lifanda, in vivo, in his life
time, Grág. ii. 202; at þeim sofundum, illis dormientibus, Hkr. i. 234;
at öllum ásjándum, in the sight of all, Fms. x. 329; at úvitanda konungi,illo nesciente, without his knowledge, 227; at áheyranda höfðingjanum,in the chief’s bearing, 235. 2. of past time with a past part. (Lat. abl.
absol.); at hræjum fundnum, on the bodies being found, Grág. ii. 87; at
háðum dómum ok föstu þingi, during the session, the courts being set, i.
484; at liðnum sex vikum, after six weeks past, Band. 13; at svá búnu,
so goru, svá komnu, svá mæltu (Lat. quibus rebus gestis, dictis, quo
facto, dicto, etc.), v. those words; at úreyndu, without trial, without put
ting one to the test, Ld. 76; at honum önduðum, illo mortuo. 3.
ellipt. without ‘at;’ en þessum hlutum fram komnum, when all this has
been done, Eb. 132. V. in some phrases with a slight temp, notion;
at görðum gildum, the fences being strong, Gþl. 387; at vörmu spori, at
once, whilst the trail is warm; at úvörum, unawares, suddenly, Nj. 95, Ld.
132; at þessu, at this cost, on that condition, Eb. 38, Nj. 55; at illum
leiki, to have a narrow escape, now við illan leik, Fms. ix. 473; at því,that granted, Grág. ii. 33: at því, at pessu, thereafter, thereupon, Nj.
76. 2. denoting succession, without interruption, one after another; hverr at öðrum, annarr maðr at öðrum, aðrir at öðrum; eina konu at
annarri, Eg. 91, Fms. ii. 236, vi. 25, Bs. i. 22, 625. 80, H. E. i. 522.

C. METAPH. and in various cases: I. denoting a transforma-
tion or change into, to, with the notion of destruction; brenna at ösku,
at köldum kolum, to burn to ashes, to be quite destroyed, Fms. i. 105,
Edda 3, Sturl. ii. 51: with the notion of transformation or transfiguration,
in such phrases as, verða at e-u, göra e-t at e-u, to turn it into: a. by
a spell; verða at ormi, to become a snake, Fms. xi. 158; at flugdrekum,
Gullþ. 7; urðu þau bönd at járni, Edda 40. P. by a natural process it
can often be translated by an acc. or by as; göra e-n at urðarmanni, ‘ t omake him an outlaw, Eg. 728; græða e-n at orkumlamanni, to heal him so
as to maim him for life, of bad treatment by a leech, Eb. 244: in the law
terms, sár görist at ben, a wound turning into a ben, proving to be mortal, Grág., Nj.; verða at ljúgvætti, to prove to be a false evidence, Grág. i. 44;
verða at sætt, to turn into reconciliation, Fms. i. 13; göra e-t at reiði
málum, to take offence at, Fs. 20; at nýjum tíðindum, to tell as news, Nj.
14; verða fátt at orðum, to be sparing of words, 18; kveðr (svá) at orði,to speak, utter, 10; verða at þrifnaði, to geton well, Fms. vii. 196:
at liði, at skaða, to be a help or hurt to one; at bana, to cause one’s death, Nj. 223, Eg. 21, Grág. ii. 29: at undrum, at hlátri, to become a wonder,
a laughing-stock, 623. 35, Eg. 553. II. denoting capacity, where
it may be translated merely by as or for; gefa at Jólagjöf, to give for a
Christmas-box, Eg. 516; at gjöf, for a present; at erfð, at láni, launum,as an inheritance, a loan; at kaupum ok sökum, for buying and selling, Ísl. ii. 223, Grág. i. 423; at solum, ii. 204; at herfangi, as spoil or plunder; at sakbótum, at niðgjöldum, as a compensation, weregeld, i. 339, ii. 171, Hkr. ii. 168; taka at gíslingu, to take as an hostage, Edda
15; eiga e-n at vin, at óvin, to have one as friend or foe, illt er at eiga
þræl at eingavin, ‘tis ill to have a thrall for one’s bosom friend (a proverb),
Nj. 77; fæða, eiga, at sonum (syni), to beget a son, Edda 8, Bs. i. 60 (but
eiga at dóttur cannot be said); hafa möttul at yfirhöfn, Fms. vii. 201;
verða nökkut at manni (mönnum), to turn out to be a worthy man; verða
ekki at manni, to turn out a worthless person, xi. 79, 268. 2.
in such phrases as, verða at orðum, to come towards, Nj. 26; var
þat at erindum, Eg. 148; hafa at veizlum, to draw veizlur (dues) from, ‘Fms. iv. 275, Eg. 647; gora e-t at álitum, to take it into consideration, Nj-3. III. denoting belonging to, fitting, of parts of the whole
or the like; vóru at honum (viz. the sword) hjölt gullbúin, the sword was
ornamented with a hilt of gold, Ld. 330; umgörð at (belonging to) sverði,
Fs. 97 (Hs.) in a verse; en ef mór er eigi at landinu, if there be no turf
moor belonging to the land, Grág. ii. 338; svá at eigi brotnaði nokkuð
at Orminum, so that no harm happened to the ship Worm, Fms. x. 356;
hvatki er meiðir at skipinu eðr at reiðinu eðr at viðum, damage done
t o …, Grág. ii. 403; lesta (to injure) hús at lásum, við eðr torfi,
110; ef land hefir batnað at húsum, if the land has been bettered as to
its buildings, 210; cp. the phrase, göra at e-u, to repair: hamlaðr at
höndum eðr fótum, maimed as to hands or feet, Eg. 14; heill at höndum
en hrumr at fótum, sound in band, palsied in foot, Fms. vii. 12; lykill at
skrá, a key belonging, fitting, to the latch; hurð at húsi; a key ‘gengr
at’ (fits) skrá; and many other phrases. 2. denoting the part by which
a thing is held or to which it belongs, by; fá, taka at…, to grasp by …;þú tókt við sverði hans at hjöltunum, you took it by the bill, Fms. i. 15;
draga út björninn at hlustum, to pull out the bear by the ears, Fas. ii. 237;
at fótum, by the feet, Fms. viii. 363; mæla (to measure) at hrygg ok at
jaðri, by the edge or middle of the stuff, Grág. i. 498; kasta e-m at
höfði, head foremost, Nj. 84; kjósa e-n at fótum, by the feet alone, Edda
46; hefja frændsemi at bræðrum, eða at systkynum, to reckon kinship by
the brother’s or the sister’s side, Grág. i. 28; kjósa at afli, at álitum, by
strength, sight, Gs. 8, belongs rather to the following. IV.in respect of, as regards, in regard to, as to; auðigr at fé, wealthy
of goods, Nj. 16, 30, 51; beztir hestar at reið, the best racehorses, 186; spekingr at viti, a man of great intellect, Ld. 124; vænn (fagr) at
áliti, fair of face, Nj. 30, Bs. i. 61; kvenna vænst at ásjónu ok vits
munum, of surpassing beauty and intellect, Ld. 122; fullkominn at
hyggju, 18; um fram aðra menn at vinsældum ok harðfengi, of surpass-
ing popularity and hardihood, Eb. 30. 2. a law term, of challenging
jurors, judges, or the like, on account of, by reason of; ryðja (to challenge)
at mægðum, guðsifjum, frændsemi, hrörum …; at leiðarlengd, on account
of distance, Grág. i. 30, 50, Nj. (freq.) 3. in arithm. denoting pro
portion; at helmingi, þriðjungi, fjórðungi, tíunda hluta, cp. Lat. ex asse,
quadrante, for the half, third… part; máttr skal at magni (a proverb),might and main go together, Hkr. ii. 236; þú munt vera at því mikill
fræðimaðr á kvæði, in the same proportion, as great, Fms. vi. 391, iii.
41; at e-s hluta, at… leiti, for one’s part, in turn, as far as one is con
cerned, Grág. i. 322, Eg. 309, Fms. iii. 26 (freq.): at öðrum kosti, in the
other case, otherwise (freq.) More gener., at öllu, öngu, in all (no) respects; at sumu, einhverju, nokkru, partly; at flestu, mestu, chiefly. 4. as
a paraphrase of a genitive; faðir, móðir at barni (= barns); aðili at
sök (= sakar a.); morðingi at barni (= barns), faðerni at barni (barns);
illvirki at fé manna (cp. Lat. felo de se), niðrfall at sökum (saka), land
gangr at fiskum (fiska), Fms. iv. 274, Grág. i. 277, 416, N. G. L. i. 340,
K. Þ. K. 112, Nj. 21. 5. the phrase ‘at sér,’ of himself or in
himself, either ellipt. or by adding the participle görr, and with the
adverbs vel, ilia, or the like; denoting breeding, bearing, endowments,
character …; væn kona, kurteis ok vel at sér, an accomplished, well-bred,
gifted lady, Nj. I; vitr maðr ok vel at sér, a wise man and thoroughly
good in feeling and bearing, 5; þú ert maðr vaskr ok vel at þér, 49;
gerr at sér, accomplished, 51; bezt at sér görr, the finest, best bred man, 39, Ld. 124; en þó er hann svá vel at sér, so generous, Nj. 77; þeir
höfðingjar er svá vóru vel at sér, so noble-minded, 198, Fms. i. 160: the
phrase ‘at sér’ is now only used of knowledge, thus maðr vel að sér
means clever, a man of great knowledge; illa að sér, a blockhead. 6.
denoting relations to colour, size, value, age, and the like; hvitr,
svartr, grár, rauðr … at lit, white, swarthy, gray, red … of colour, Bjarn.
55, 28, Ísl. ii. 213, etc.; mikill, litill, at stærð, vexti, tall, small of
size, etc.; ungr, gamall, barn, at aldri, young, old, a child of age; tvítugr, þrítugr … at aldri, twenty, thirty … years of age (freq.):
of animals; kyr at fyrsta, öðrum … kálfi, a cow having calved once,
twice…, Jb. 346: value, amount, currency of money, kaupa e-t at
mörk, at a mark, N. G. L. 1. 352; ok er eyririnn at mörk, amounts
to a mark, of the value of money, Grág. i. 392; verðr þá at hálfri
murk vaðmála eyrir, amounts to a half a mark, 500. β. metaph. of
value, connected with verbs denoting to esteem, hold; meta, hafa, halda
at miklu, litlu, vettugi, engu, or the like, to hold in high or low esteem,
to care or not to care for (freq.): geta e-s at góðu, illu, öngu, to mention
one favourably, unfavourably, indifferently … (freq.), prop, in connection
with. In many cases it may be translated by in; ekki er mark at
draumum, there is no meaning in dreams, no heed is to be paid to dreams, Sturl. ii. 217; bragð er at þá barnið finnr, it goes too far, when even a
child takes offence (a proverb): hvat er at því, what does it mean? Nj. 11;
hvert þat skip er vöxtr er at, any ship of mark, i. e. however small, Fms.
xi. 2O. V. denoting the source of a thing: 1. source of infor
mation, to learn, perceive, get information from; Ari nam ok marga
fræði at Þuríði, learnt as her pupil, at her hands, as St. Paul at the feet
of Gamaliel, (just as the Scotch say to speer or ask at a person); Ari
nam at Þorgeiri afraðskoll, Hkr. (pref.); nema kunnáttu at e-m, used of

AT and að, the mark of the infinitive [cp. Goth, du; A. S. and Engl.
to; Germ. zu]. Except in the case of a few verbs ‘at’ is always placed
immediately before the infinitive, so as to be almost an inseparable part
of the verb. I. it is used either, 1. as, a simple mark of the
infinitive, only denoting an action and independent of the subject, e. g. at
ganga, at hlaupa, at vita, to go, to run, to know; or, 2. in an objec-
tive sense when following such verbs as bjóða segja…, to invite, command …; hann bauð þeim at ganga, at sitja, be bade, ordered them to
go, sit, or the like; or as gefa and fá; gefa e-m at drekka, at eta, to give
one to drink or to eat, etc. etc. ß. with the additional notion of intention, esp. when following verba cogitandi; hann ætlaði, hafði í hyggju at
fara, he had it in his mind to go (where ‘to go’ is the real object to
ætlaði and hafði í hyggju). 3. answering to the Gr. GREEK denoting
intention, design, in order to; hann gékk í borg at kaupa silfr, in order
to buy, Nj. 280; hann sendi riddara sína með þeim at varðveita þær, 623.
45: in order to make the phrase more plain, ‘svá’ and ‘til’ are frequently
added, esp. in mod. writers, ‘svá at’ and contr. ‘svát’ (the last however is
rare), ‘til at” and ‘til þess at,’ etc. II. in the earlier times the
infin., as in Greek and Lat., had no such mark; and some verbs remain
that cannot be followed by ‘at;’ these verbs are almost the same in Icel.
as in Engl.: a. the auxiliary verbs vil, mun (GREEK), skal; as in Engl.
to is never used after the auxiliaries shall, will, must; ek vil ganga, I will go; ek mun fara, (as in North. E.) I mun go; ek skal göra þat, I shall do that, etc. ß. the verbs kunna, mega, as in Engl. I can or may
do, I dare say; svá hygginn at hann kunni fyrir sökum ráða, Grág. ii. 75;
í öllu er prýða má góðan höfðingja, Nj. 90; vera má, it may be; vera kann
þat, id.: kunnu, however, takes ‘at’ whenever it means to know, and esp. in
common language in phrases such as, það kann að vera, but vera kann þat,
v. above. γ. lata, biðja, as in Engl. to let, to bid; hann let (bað) þá fara,he let (bade) them go.δ. þykkja, þykjast, to seem; hann þykir vera, he
is thought to be: reflex., hann þykist vera, sibi videtur: impers., mér þykir
vera, mibi videtur, in all cases without ‘at.’ So also freq. the verbs hugsa,
hyggja, ætla, halda, to think, when denoting merely the act of thinking;
but if there be any notion of intention or purpose, they assume the ‘at;’
thus hann ætlaði, hugði, þá vera góða menn, he thought them to be, acc. c.
inf.; but ætlaði at fara, meant to go, etc. ε. the verbs denoting to
see, bear; sjá, líta, horfa á … (videre); heyra, audire, as in Engl. I saw
them come,I heard him tell, ek sá þá koma, ek heyrði hann tala. ζ.
sometimes after the verbs eiga and ganga; hann gékk steikja, be went
to roast, Vkv. 9; eiga, esp. when a mere periphrasis instead of skal,
móður sína á maðr fyrst fram færa (better at færa), Grág. i. 232;
á þann kvið einskis meta, 59; but at meta, id. l. 24; ráða, nema,
göra …, freq. in poetry, when they are used as simple auxiliary verbs,
e. g. nam hann sér Högna hvetja at rúnum, Skv. 3. 43. η. hljóta and
verða, when used in the sense of must (as in Engl. he must go), and
when placed after the infin.of another verb; hér muntu vera hljóta,
Nj. 129; but hljóta at vera: fara hlýtr þú, Fms. 1. 159; but þú hlýtr
at fara: verða vita, ii. 146; but verða at vita: hann man verða
sækja, þó verðr (= skal) maðr eptir mann lifa, Fms. viii. 19, Fas. ii.
552, are exceptional cases. θ. in poetry, verbs with the verbal neg.
suffix ‘-at,’ freq. for the case of euphony, take no mark of the infinitive,
where it would be indispensable with the simple verb, vide Lex. Poët.
Exceptional cases; hvárt sem hann vill ‘at’ verja þá sök, eða, whatever
he chooses, either, Grág. i. 64; fyrr viljum vér enga kórónu at bera, en
nokkut ófrelsi á oss at taka, we would rather bear no crown than …, Fms. x. 12; the context is peculiar, and the ‘at’ purposely added. It may
be left out ellipt.; e. g. þá er guð gefr oss finnast (= at finnast), Dipl. ii.
14; gef honum drekka (= at drekka), Pr. 470; but mostly in unclassical
writers, in deeds, or the like, written nastily and in an abrupt style. AT and að, conj. [Goth. þatei = GREEK; A. S. þät; Engl. that; Germ, dass;
the Ormul. and Scot, at, see the quotations sub voce in Jamieson; in all
South-Teutonic idioms with an initial dental: the Scandinavian idioms
form an exception, having all dropped this consonant; Swed. åt, Dan. at].
In Icel. the Bible translation (of the 16th century) was chiefly based upon
that of Luther; the hymns and the great bulk of theol. translations of

at-reið, f. (milit.) a riding at, a charge of horse, Fms. vi. 417, in the
description of the battle at Stamford Bridge: Hkr. iii. 162 has áreið, but
some MSS. atreið, vii. 57. β. the act of riding at or over, Nj. 21; esp.
in the translation of French romances of tilting in tournaments, Str. (freq.)
COMPD: atreiðar-áss, m. a quintain pole, at which to ride a-tilt, El. 15.

at-rið, now atriði, n. 1. = atreið, movement, in the phrase, hann
hafði allt eitt atriðit, he did both things at once, in the twinkling of an
eye, Grett. 95 new Ed. 2. a gramm. term in the compd atriðs-
klauf, f. probably = GREEK, Edda (Ht.) 124, cp. Ed. Havn. ii. 154,
cp. Skálda 193; atrið would thus mean a word, sentence. It is now very
freq. in the form atriði, n. in a metaph. sense, the chief point in a sentence,
or a part, paragraph, and used in many compds. Atriðr, m. is one of
the poët. names of Odin, the wise (?).

at-vist, f. [vesa at], presence, esp. as a law term, opp. to an alibi, the
act of being present at a crime: the law distinguishes between ráð (plotting),
tilför (partaking), and a. (presence), Grág. ii. 37; vera í atsókn
ak a., to be present and a partaker in the onslaught, Nj. 100. β. transl.
of the Lat. assiduitas, 677. 12.

AUÐ-, adverbial prefix to a great many adjectives, adverbs, and participles,
seldom to subst. nouns, [not found in Ulf.; A. S. eâð, as in eâð-
medu, humilitas, and also as a separate adj. eâde. facilis; Old Engl. ‘eath,’
‘uneath,’ for ‘easy,’ ‘uneasy;’ Hel. ôð and ôði, facilis, unôði, difficilis],
easy, opp. to tor-. To this ‘aud’ and not to ‘old’ may perhaps be referred
some of the compds of aud and awd in Scottish and provincial
English. Thus ‘audie’ in Scotch means an easy careless fellow; ‘aud farand,’ or ‘auld farand,’ may both mean easy going: v. the words in
Jamieson and the Craven Glossary.

auða, u, f. desolation, Þiðr. 2.

auð-beðinn, adj. part. [A. S. eâðbede], easily persuaded to do a thing,
with gen. of the thing, Eg. 17, 467.

auðna, að, impers. to be ordained by fate; ef honum auðnaði eigi aptr
at koma, if it was not ordained by fate that he should come back, Fms. ix.
350; sem auðnar, as luck decides, Fb. i. 160, Fas. iii. 601, Lv. 30: with
gen., ef Guð vill at þess auðni, that it shall succeed, Bs. i. 159, v. 1., þat is
less correct: now freq. in a dep. form, e-m auðnast, one is successful, with
following infin.

auð-skeptr, part. (in a proverb), Ad. 21, eigi eru a. almanna spjör, it is not easy to make shafts to all people’s spear heads, i. e. to act so that all
shall be pleased, cp. Hm. 127; auð-skæf (as given in the Skálda, where
this line is cited) may be a better reading = not easily carved or made so
as to suit everybody.

auð-vinr, m. (poët.) a charitable friend [A. S. eâðvine] ; in the old
poets freq. spelt otvin, v. Lex. Poët. β. as a pr. name Auðunn; the
etymology in Hkr. i. 12 is bad; and so is also the popular etymology of
this word = none, fr. auðr, vacuus.

AUK, adv. [cp. Goth, auk, freq. used by Ulf. as translation of Gr.GREEK; jah auk = GREEK; A. S. eâc; Engl. eke; Germ. auch] . I.
it originally was a noun = augmentum, but this form only remains in the
adverbial phrase, at auk, to boot, besides, Bs. i. 317 (freq.): adverbially
and without ‘at’ besides; hundrað manna ok auk kappar hans,a hundred men and eke his champions, Fas. i. 77; þriggja marka fé, en konungr
þat er auk er, the surplus, N. G. L. i. 350: cp. also such phrases as,
auk þess at, besides that; auk heldr, v. heldr. II. as a conj.also, Lat. etiam, occurs in very old prose, and in poetry; svá mun
ek auk bletza þá konu es þú baðsk fyr, 655 ix. B. 2 (MS. of the 12th
century), Hkr. ii. 370 (in a poem of Sighvat); this form, however, is
very rare, as the word soon passed into ok, q. v. III. used to
head a sentence, nearly as Lat. deinde, deinceps, the Hebrew HEBREW, or
the like; the Ormulum uses ac in the same way; in MSS. it is usually
spelt ok; but it may be seen from poetic assonances that it was pro-
nounced auk, e. g. auk und jöfri fræknum; hitt var auk at eykir, Vellekla,
Hkr. i. 216: auk at járna leiki, Lex. Poët.; it is sometimes even
spelt so, e. g. auk nær aptni skaltu Óðinn koma, Hm. 97, Hkr. i. 29,
v. 1.; it is also freq. in the Cod. Fris. of the Hkr. This use of auk’ or
‘ok’ is esp. freq. in old narrative poems such as the Ynglingatal (where it
occurs about thirty-five times), in the Háleygjatal (about six times), and
the Vellekla (about ten times): vide ok. IV. simply for ok, and, as spelt on some Runic stones, but seldom, if ever, in written documents.

auk-nefni, n. ‘eke-name,’ a nickname: α. a defamatory name,
punishable with the lesser outlawry, Grág. ii. 146. β. in a less strong
sense; hann var svartr á hár ok hörund, ok því þótti honum a. gefit er
hann var Birtingr kallaðr, he was swarth of hair and skin, and for that
it seemed a nickname was given him when he was called ‘Brighting,’ Fms.
vii. 157: Helgi átti kenningar nafn, ok var kallaðr hvíti; ok var þat eigi
a., því at hann var vænn maðr ok vel hærðr, hvítr á hár, Helgi had a
surname (in a good sense), and was called ‘White;’ and that was no nickname,
for he was a handsome man and well-haired, white of hair, Fbr.
80: þú hyggr at ek muna vilja giptast einum bastarði, — eigi em ek
bastarðr nema at a., of William the Conqueror, Fb. iii. 464. In old times,
esp. at the time of the colonisation of Iceland, such nicknames were in
freq. use, as may be seen from the index in the Landnama; they gradually
went out of use, but still occur now and then throughout the whole
of the Saga period in Icel. down to the 14th century.

AULANDI, an indecl. adj., qs. al-landi, an GREEK in the proverb
Nj. 10, illt er þeim er au. er alinn. [The root is prob. al- (Lat. alius),land, cp. A. S. ellend or elland (Hel. elilendi), alienus, peregrinus; Old
Engl. alyant; O. H. G. alilanta (whence N. H. G. elend, miser): there is
in Icel. also a form erlendr, prob. a corruption for ellendr. This root is
quite lost in the Scandin. idioms with the single exception of the proverb
mentioned above, and the altered form er-.] The MSS. of the Nj. I. c.
differ; some of them have á úlandi in two words, in terra malâ;
Johnsonius has not made out the meaning: the proper sense seems to be exul
ubique infelix. In olden times peregrinus and miser were synonymous,
the first in a proper, the last in a metaphorical sense: so the Lat. hostis
( = hospes) passed into the sense of enemy. The spelling with ö (ölandi)
ought perhaps to be preferred, although the change of vowel cannot be
easily accounted for.

austfirðingr, m., esp. in pl. an eastfirther, one from the east of Iceland, Sturl. ii. 158. COMPDS: austfirðinga-búð, f., v. búð. austfirðinga-dómr, m. the court for the east quarter, v. dómr. austfirðinga-fjórðungr, m. the east quarter of Iceland, v. fjórðungr.

aust-firðir, m. pl. the east firths of Iceland, opp. to vestfirðir, Landn.

aust-firzkr, adj. one from the east firths in Icel., Nj. 54, Lv. 57.

aust-för, f. = austrför.

aust-ker, n. a scoop, bucket, v. auss-ker.

aust-kylfir, m. pl. easterlings, cp. Kylfingar, an old Russian population,
Kolbiager, east of the Baltic; in a poem of Hornklofi, Fagrsk. 9.

aust-lægr, adj. easterly, of the wind.,

aust-maðr, m., pl. austmenn, in Icel. and in the northern part of the
British Islands a standing name of those who came from the Scandi-
navian continent, esp. Norse merchants, vide the old Irish chronicles,
and the Sagas, passim. The English used ‘ easterling’ in the same sense,
and sterling is an abbreviation of the word from the coin which the
‘easterlings’ brought with them in trade. Eyvindr austmaðr, Landn.,
Nj. 81, Eg. 744, Ísl. ii. 192, 128, Sturl. ii. 47, Lv. 23, Valla L. 216,
Landn. 36, 290, 305, Eb. 104, 196, etc. In the Norse GÞl. 450 it is used
of Swedes in Norway: austmanna-skelfir, m. ‘skelper’ (conqueror,
terror) of the east men, a nickname, Landn. 305.

aust-marr, m. the east sea, the east Baltic (Estmere of king Alfred,
Oros. Ed. Bosworth, p. 22), Ýt. 18.

austr-biti, a, m. a cross-beam nearest the pumping-place in a ship, Fs. 153.

austr-ferð and austr-för, f. voyage to the east, esp. to Russia or the
east Baltic, Fb. i. 130, Ls. 60, the last passage in a mythical sense.
COMPDS: austrfarar-knorr, m. a vessel bound for the Baltic, Fms. vii.
256. austrfarar-skip, n. id., Fms. viii. 61, Orkn. 274 old Ed.,
where the new Ed. 334 has útfararskip, a ship bound for the Mediterranean (better).

austr-lönd, n. pl. the east, orient, the eastern part of Europe, in old
writers often synonymous to Austr-halfa, and opp. to Norðrlönd, Scandinavia; Suðrlönd, South Germany, etc.; Vestrlönd, the British Islands,
Normandy, Bretagne, etc., Post. 656 C. 39, Fms. ii. 183, Post. 645. 102,
Hkr. i. 134 in a poem of the 10th century used of Russia; cp. Brocm. 101.

Á, á, prep., often used elliptically, or even adverbially, [Goth, ana; Engl. on; Germ. an. In the Scandinavian idioms the liquid n is absorbed.
In English the same has been supposed to happen in adverbial phrases,
e. g. ‘along, away, abroad, afoot, again, agate, ahead, aloft, alone,
askew, aside, astray, awry,’ etc. It is indeed true that the Ormulum in
its northern dialect freq. uses o, even in common phrases, such as ‘o boke,
o land, o life, o slæpe, o strande, o write, o naht, o loft,’ etc., v. the glossary;
and we may compare on foot and afoot, on sleep (Engl. Vers. of Bible)
and asleep; A. S. a-butan and on-butan (about); agen and ongean (again,
against); on bæc, aback; on life, alive; on middan, amid. But it is
more than likely that in the expressions quoted above, as well as in
numberless others, as well in old as in modern English, the English a-
as well as the o- of the Ormulum and the modern Scottish and north
of England o- are in reality remains of this very á pronounced au or ow, which was brought by the Scandinavian settlers into the north of England.
In the struggle for supremacy between the English dialects after
the Conquest, the Scandinavian form á or a won the day in many cases
to the exclusion of the Anglo-Saxon on. Some of these adverbs have
representatives only in the Scandinavian tongues, not in Anglo-Saxon;
see below, with dat. B. II, C. VII; with acc. C. I. and VI. The prep. á denotes the surface or outside; í and ór the inside; at, til, and frá,
nearness measured to or from an object: á thus answers to the Gr. GREEK
the Lat. in includes á and i together.]

With dat. and acc.: in the first case with the notion of remaining
on a place, answering to Lat. in with abl.; in the last with the notion of
motion to the place, = Lat. in with acc.

B. TEMP. I. of a period of time, at, to; á morgun, to-morrow (í morgun now means the past morning, the morning of to-day), Ísl. ii. 333. II. if connected with the word day, ‘á’ is now used before a fixed or marked day, a day of the week, a feast day, or the like; á Laugardag, á Sunnudag …, on Saturday, Sunday, the Old Engl. a-Sunday, a-Monday, etc.; á Jóladaginn, Páskadaginn, on Yule and Easter-day; but in old writers more often used ellipt. Sunnudaginn, Jóladaginn …, by dropping the prep. ‘á,’ Fms. viii. 397, Grág. i. 18. III. connected with ‘dagr’ with the definite article suffixed, ‘á’ denotes a fixed, recurring period or season, in; á daginn, during the day-time, every day in turn, Grett. 91 A. IV. connected with ‘evening, morning, the seasons,’ with the article; á kveldit, every evening, Ld. 14; á sumarit, every summer, Vd. 128, where the new Ed. Fs. 51 reads sumrum; á haust, every autumn, Eg. 741 (perh. a misprint instead of á haustin or á haustum); á vetrinn, in the winter time, 710; á várit, every spring, Gþl. 347; the sing., however, is very rare in such cases, the old as well as mod. usage prefers the plur.; á nætrnar, by night, Nj. 210; á várin, Eg. 710; á sumrin, haustin, á morgnana, in the morning (á morgin, sing., means to-morrow); á kveldin, in the evening, only ‘dagr’ is used in sing., v. above (á daginn, not á dagana); but elliptically and by dropping the article, Icelanders say, kveld og morgna, nótt og dag, vetr sumar vor og haust, in the same sense as those above mentioned. V. denoting duration, the article is dropped in the negative phrase, aldri á sinn dag, never during one’s life; aldri á mína daga, never in my life, Bjarn. 8, where a possess. pron. is put between noun and prep., but this phrase is very rare. Such phrases as, á þann dag, that day, and á þenna dag, Stj. 12, 655 xxx. 2. 20, are unclassical. VI. á dag without article can only be used in a distributive sense, e.g. tvisvar á dag, twice a-day; this use is at present freq. in Icel., yet instances from old writers are not on record. VII. denoting a movement onward in time, such as, liðið á nótt, dag, kveld, morgun, sumar, vetr, vár, haust (or nóttina, daginn …), jól, páska, föstu, or the like, far on in the night, day …, Edda 33; er á leið vetrinn, when the winter was well on, as the winter wore on, Nj. 126; cp. áliðinn: also in the phrase, hniginn á inn efra aldr, well stricken in years, Ld. 68.

a-gengt, n. adj. trodden, beaten, of a place or path, Finnb. 336:
metaph., e-m verðr á., to be trodden upon; hón byggir her í miðri
frændleifð sinni, ok verðr henni því her ekki a., Stj. 613. i Kings iv. 13.
The mod. use of the phrase e-m verðr ú. is to succeed or make progress in a thing.

á-hankast, að, dep. [hönk, a bank or coil], in the phrase, e-m á., one gets the worst of it. But it is twisted to another sense in the dream of king Harold, Fms. vi. 312. Shortly before the battle at the river Niz, the king dreamt that king Sweyn pulled the hank of rope out of his hand, — réðu svá flestir at Sveinn mundi fá þat er þeir keptust um, þá mælti Hákon jarl: vera má at svá sé, en vænna þyki mér at Sveini konungi muni áhankast, most men read it so that S. would win the prize of contest, then said earl H.: well that may be so, but it seems more likely to me that king S. will be caught.

á-kenning, f. 1. in the phrase, hafa á. e-s or af e-u, to have a smack of a thing, to savour of, Bs. i. 134. 2.a slight reprimand, (kenna á., to feel sore); göra e-m á., to administer a slight reprimand, Sturl. i. 70, Bs. i. 341, in the last passage it is used as masc.

á-keypi, n. the right of pre-emption, a law term, Fr.

ä-klaga, að, to accuse, (mod. word.)

á-klagan and áklögun, f. an accusation, charge, Bs. i. 856.

á-klæði, n. a carpet, covering, Pm. 109.

á-kneyki, n. hurt, metaph. shame, Konr. MS.

á-kúfóttr, adj. spherical, Sks. 630 B; cp. ávalr.

á-kúran, a doubtful reading, Eg. 47, v. l. for áþján, bondage:ákúrur, f. pl., means in mod. usage reprimands: in the phrase, veita e-m á., to scold, esp. of reprimands given to a youth or child.

ÁLFR, s, m. [A. S. ælf, munt-ælfen, sæ-ælfen, wudu-ælfen, etc.; Engl. elf, elves, in Shakespeare ouphes are ‘fairies;’ Germ. alb and elfen, Erl- in Erlkönig (Göthe) is, according to Grimm, a corrupt form from the Danish Ellekonge qs. Elver-konge]; in the west of Icel. also pronounced álbr: I. mythically, an elf, fairy; the Edda distinguishes between Ljósálfar, the elves of light, and Dökkálfar, of darkness (the last not elsewhere mentioned either in mod. fairy tales or in old writers), 12; the Elves and Ases are fellow gods, and form a favourite alliteration in the old mythical poems, e.g. Vsp. 53, Hm. 144, 161, Gm. 4, Ls. 2, 13, Þkv. 7, Skm. 7, 17, Sdm. 18. In the Alvismál Elves and Dwarfs are clearly distinguished as different. The abode of the elves in the Edda is Álfheimar,fairy land, and their king the god Frey (the god of light), Edda 12; see the poem Gm. 12, Álfheim Frey gáfu í árdaga tívar at tannfé. In the fairy tales the Elves haunt the hills, hence their name Huldufólk, hidden people: respecting their origin, life, and customs, v. Ísl. Þjóðs. i. I sqq. In old writers the Elves are rarely mentioned; but that the same tales were told as at present is clear;– Hallr mælti, hvi brosir þú nú? þórhallr svarar, af því brosir ek, at margr hóll opnast ok hvert kvikindi býr sinn bagga bæði smá ok stór, ok gera fardaga (a foreboding of the introduction of Christianity), Fms. ii. 197, cp. landvættir; álfamenn,elves, Bs. i. 417, Fas. i. 313, 96; hóll einn er hér skamt í brott er álfar búa í, Km. 216: álfrek, in the phrase, ganga álfreka, cacare, means dirt, excrements, driving the elves away through contamination, Eb. 12, cp. Landn. 97, Fms. iv. 308, Bárð. ch. 4: álfröðull,elfin beam or light, a poët. name of the sun;álfavakir,elf-holes, the small rotten holes in the ice in spring-time in which the elves go a fishing; the white stripes in the sea in calm weather are the wakes of elfin fishing boats, etc.: medic. álfabruni is an eruption in the face, Fél. ix. 186: Ivar Aasen mentions ‘alvgust, alveblaastr, alveld,’ the breath, fire of elves (cp. St. Vitus’ dance or St. Anthony’s fire); ‘alvskot,’ a sort of cancer in the bone :– græti álfa,elfin tears, Hðm. I, is dubious; it may mean some flower with dew-drops glittering in the morning sun, vide s. v. glýstamr (glee-steaming). Jamieson speaks of an elf’s cup, but elf tears are not noticed elsewhere; cp. Edda 39. In Sweden, where the worship of Frey prevailed, sacrifices, álfa-blót, were made to the elves, stóð húsfreyja í dyrum ok bað hann (the guest) eigi þar innkoma, segir at þau ætti álfa blót, Hkr. ii. 124 (referring to the year 1018), cp. Korm. ch. 22. 2. metaph., as the elves had the power to bewitch men, a silly, vacant person is in Icel. called álfr; hence álfalegr,silly álfaskapr and álfaháttr, silly behaviour.II. in historical sense, the Norse district situated between the two great rivers Raumelfr and Gautelfr (Alhis Raumarum, et Gotharum) was in the mythical times called Álfheimar, and its inhabitants Álfar, Fas. i. 413, 384, 387, Fb. i. 23, vide also P. A. Munch, Beskrivelse over Norge, p. 7. For the compds v. above.

á-ljótr, m. [ljótr, deformis], gen. s and ar, dat. áljóti; a law term, a serious bodily injury that leaves marks, wilfully inflicted; only once, Grág. ii. 146, used of a libellous speech; áljótsráð is the intention to inflict áljót, and is distinguished from fjörráð (against one’s life), sárráð, and drepráð, Grág. ii. 127, 117, 146; áljótr eðr bani, i. 497; áljótsráð, as well as fjörráð, if carried out in action, was liable to the greater out-lawry (ii. 127), but áljótr, in speech, only to the lesser, and this too even if the charge proved to be true; ef maðr bregðr manni brigslum, ok mælir áljót, þótt hann segi satt, ok varðar fjörbaugsgarð, ii. 146; an intended áljótsráð, if not carried into effect, was also only liable to the lesser out-lawry, 127: every one was to be brought to trial for the actual, not the intended injury; as, vice versa, a man was tried for murder, if the wound proved mortal (ben), though he only intended to inflict a blow (drep) or wound (sár), 117; cp. also i. 493. COMPDS: áljóts-eyrir, s, m. a fine for á., N. G. L. i. 171 (for cutting one’s nose off). áljóts-ráð, n. pl., Grág., v. above.

ÁLPT, more correctly álft, f. the common í eel. word for swan, Lat. cygnus; svan is only poët.; all local names in which the swan appears, even those of the end of the 9th century, use ‘álpt,’ not ‘svan,’ Álpta-fjörðr, -nes, -mýri, v. the local index to the Landn.; Svanshóll comes from a proper name Svan. Probably akin to Lat. albus; the t is fem. Inflexion; the p, instead of f, a mere change of letter; cp. the proverb, þegar hrafninn verðr hvítr en álptin svört, of things that never will happen: pl. álptir, but sometimes, esp. in Norse, elptr or elftr; the change of the original a (alft) into á (álft) is of early date, Grág. ii. 338, 346, Eg. 132, Landn. 57; in all these passages pl. álptir; but elptr, Jb. 217, 309. Respecting the mythical origin of the swan, v. Edda 12; they are the sacred birds at the well of Urda. COMPDS: álptar-hamr, m. the skin of a swan, Fas. ii. 373. álptar-líki, n. the shape of a swan, Fas. ii. 375, etc.

ÁMA, u, f. (and ámu-sótt, f.) erysipelas, Sturl. ii. 116; in common talk corrupted into heimakona or heimakoma. 2. poët, a giantess, Edda (Gl.); hence the play of words in the saying, gengin er gygr or fæti en harðsperra aptr komin, gone is the giantess (erysipelas), but a worse (sceloturbe) has come after.3.a tub, awme, Germ. ahm.4. in Norse mod. dialects the larva is called aama (v. Ivar Aasen); and ámu-maðkr, spelt ánu-maðkr, a kind of maggot, lumbricus terrestris, is probably rightly referred to this. Fél. ix. states that it has this name from its being used to cure erysipelas.

ÁN and Ön, a mythical king of Sweden, hence ána-sótt, f. painless sickness from age, decrepid old age; þat er síðan kölluð á. ef maðr deyr verklauss af elli, Hkr. i. 35: the word is mentioned in Fél. ix. s. v., but it only occurs l. c. as an GREEK and seems even there to be a paraphrase of the wording in the poem, knátti endr | at Uppsölum | ánasótt | Ön of standa, Ýt. 13; even in the time of Snorri the word was prob. not in use in Icel. 2. the hero of the Án’s Saga, a romance of the 14th or 15th century, Fas. ii. 323-362; hence áni, a, m., means a fool, lubber.

á-reið, f. a charge of cavalry, Hkr. iii. 162, Fms. vii. 56: an invasion
of horsemen, x. 413: at present a law term, a visitation or inspection by
sworn franklins as umpires, esp. in matters about boundaries.

ár-ligr, adj. 1.annual, Thom. 24. 2. in the phrase, árligum
hrósar þú verðinum, thou hast enjoyed a hearty meal, Hbl. 33; the word
is now used in the sense of well fed, well looking.

ár-maðr, m. [árr, nuntius, or ár, annona], a steward, esp. of royal
estates in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, also of the earls’ estates in the
Orkneys. As Icel. had neither earls nor kings, it is very rare, perhaps an
GREEK in Landn. 124 (of the stewards of Geirmund heljarskinn). In
Norway the ármenn of the king were often persons of low birth, and
looked upon with hatred and disrespect by the free noblemen of the
country, cp. e. g. Ó. H. 113, 120 (synonymous with konungs þræll), Eb. ch.
2; the ármenn were a sort of royal policemen and tax gatherers, Fms. xi.
261, Orkn. 444, Eg. 79, 466, Gþl. 12 (where it is different from sýslumaðr);
erkibiskups á., N. G. L. i. 175. COMPD: ármanns-réttr, m. the right
of an á., i. e. the fine to be paid for molesting an ármaðr, N. G. L. i. 70.

á-skynja, adj. ind., in the phrase, verða e-s á., used in old writers in
the sense to learn, of arts or knowledge, á. íþrótta, Fær. 46, Fms. ii.
270, Sks. 25, 53, 573; with dat., Fb. i. 462: now only used of news, to
bear, be aware; not of learning, sensû proprio.

ás-liðar, m. pl. [liði, a champion], the champion of the Ases, Skm. 34.

ás-megin (ásmegn, Edda 15, 29), n. gener. the divine strength of the
Ases, but esp. used of Thor in the phrases, at færast í á., vaxa á., neyta
á., when he displayed his strength as a god by grasping the hammer
Mjölnir, by putting on the gloves, or the girdle (megingjarðar, q. v.),
Edda 15, 60, 61, Hým. 31.

ÁSS, m. [that the word existed in Goth, may be inferred from the
words of Jornandes–Gothi proceres suos quasi qui fortunâ vincebant non
pares homines sed semideos, id est Anses, vocavere. The word appears
in the Engl. names Osborn, Oswald, etc. In old German pr. names withn, e. g. Ansgâr, A. S. Oscar: Grimm suggests a kinship between áss,pole, and áss, deus; but this is uncertain. In Icel. at least no such
notion exists, and the inflexions of the two words differ. The old gen.
asar is always used in the poems of the 10th century, Korm. 22 (in a
verse), etc.; dat. æsi, in the oath of Glum (388), later ás; nom. pl.
æsir; acc. pl. ásu (in old poetry), æsi (in prose). The old declension
is analogous to árr; perhaps the Goth, form was sounded ansus; it
certainly was sounded different from ans, GREEK]:–the Ases, gods, either
the old heathen gods in general, or esp. the older branch, opp. to the new
one, the dî ascripti, the Vanir, q. v., Edda 13 sqq. β. the sing, is used
particularly of the different gods, e. g. of Odin; ölverk Ásar, the brewing
of the As (viz. Odin), i. e. poetry, Korm. 208 (in a verse); of Loki,
Bragi, etc.; but GREEK it is used of Thor, e. g. in the heathen
oaths, segi ek þat Æsi (where it does not mean Odin), Glúm. 388;
Freyr ok Njörðr ok hinn almátki Áss, Landn. (Hb.) 258: in Swed. åska
means lightning, thunder, qs. ás-ekja, the driving of the As, viz. Thor:
áss as a prefix to pr. names also seems to refer to Thor, not Odin, e. g.
Ásbjörn = Þorbjörn, Asmóðr = Þormóðr (Landri. 307 in a verse). In
Scandinavian pr. names áss before the liquid r assumes a t, and becomes
ást (Ástríðr, not Ásríðr; Ástráðr = Ásráðr); and sometimes even before
an l, Ástlákr — Áslákr, Fb. i. 190; Ástleifr — Ásleifr, Fms. xi. (Knytl. S.)
COMPDS: ása-gisling, f. hostage of the Ases, Edda 15. ása-heiti,
n. a name of the Ases, Edda (Gl.) Ása-Þorr, m. Thor the As ‘par
excellence,’ Edda 14, Hbl. 52. ása-ætt, f. the race of Ases, Edda 7.

áss, m. [a French word], the ace at dice, in the game kvátra, q. v., Sturl.
ii. 95, Orkn. 200: mod. also the ace in cards.

ást-goði, a, m. a darling, good genius; hann þótti öllum mönnum á.,he (viz. bishop Paul) was endeared to all hearts, Bs. i. 137: the old Ed.
reads ástgóði,endearment, which seems less correct, v. goði: goði in
the sense of good genius is still in use in the ditty to the Icel. game
‘goða-tafl’ (heima ræð eg goða minn).

átt-vísi and ættvísi, f. genealogical knowledge or science, Skálda 161,
169, Bárð. 164, Bs. i. 91, Fms. vii. 102; the áttvísi formed a part of the
old education, and is the groundwork of the old Icel. historiography,
esp. of the Landnarna.

átt-æringr, m. an eight-oared boat (now proncd. áttahringr), Vm. 109.

átt-ærr, adj. [ár, remus], having eight oars, Eg. 142, 600 A.

át-vagl, in. a glutton, Germ. freszbauch.

á-valr, adj. round, sloping, semi-rotundus; cp. sívalr, rotundus [from
völr or from oval (?)]; it seems not to occur in old writers.

áv-alt and ávallt, adv. always, Lat. semper, originally of-allt (from
allr)= in all; but as early as the 12th century it was sounded as ofvalt or
ávalt, which may be seen from this word being used in alliteration to v in
poems of that time, þars á valt er vísir bjó, Kt. 16; vestu á valt at trausti,
Harmsól verse 59; styrktu of valt til verka, Leiðarv. 34 (the MS. reads
ávalt): even Hallgrim in the 17th century says, víst á valt þeim vana
halt | vinna, lesa ok iðja. In MSS. it is not unfreq. spelt ofvalt, as a single
word, e. g. Bs. i. 150-200; yet in very early times the word seems to have
assumed the present form ávalt, proncd. á-valt, as if from á and valr: ofalt,
of allt, Orkn. 90, Fms. v. 205, Fbr. 77, 87, Fær. 22: of valt, Eluc. 3, Bs. i.
349, Fms. v. 160: ávalt or ávallt, freq. in the old miracle book, — Bs. i-335,
343, 344, 345, 351, Hom. MS. Holm. p. 3, Hoin. (MS. 619), 129, Grág.
(Kb.) 116, Landn. 86, Fms. xi. 112, etc. etc., — through all the Sagas and
down to the present day: cp. the mod. alltaf (per metath.), adv. always.

á-varðr, adj. [from á- intens. and verja, part, variðr, contr. varðr, pro-
tectus], an interesting old word; with dat., a. e-m, protected by one, but
only used of a man in relation to the gods, in the phrase, goðum ávarðr,a client or darling of the gods, used as early as by Egil, Ad. 20, and also
three or four times in prose; at hann mundi Frey (dat.) svá a. fyrir
blótin, at hann mundi eigi vilja at freri á milli þeirra, Gísl. 32; skilja
þeir at þeir ern mjök ávarðir goðunum, Róm. 292; so also of God, ef
hann væri svá á. Guði, sem hann ætlaði, Bs. i. 464.

á-víga, adj. ind. in the phrase, verða á., of a chief on whose side most people are killed in a battle, in respect to the pairing off of the slain in the lawsuit that followed; þat vóru lög þá, þar at (in the case that) menn féllu jafnmargir, at þat skyldi kalla jamvegit (they should be paired off, no compensation, or ‘wergeld,’ should be paid, and no suit begun), þótt manna munr þætti vera; en þeir er á. urðu skyldi kjósa mann til eptir hvern mæli skyldi, Glúm. 383; vide Sir Edm. Head, p. 93.

B (bé) is the second letter. In the Phenician (Hebrew) alphabet the three middle mutes, b, g, d, etc., follow in unbroken order after a. In the Greek the same order is kept; in Latin, and hence in all European alphabets, a confusion arose, first, by giving to the UNCERTAIN (the old Greek gamma) the value of k (c), and thereby throwing g out of its original place: secondly, by placing e and F (identical in form with UNCERTAIN, the old Greek digamma) immediately after the d; thus, instead of the old Greek (and Hebrew) a, b, g, d, e, f, we got a, b, c, d, e, f, g, etc. In the old Slavonian alphabet v (vidil) was inserted between the b and g (Grimm Introd. to lit. B). In the old Runic alphabet the order became still more disjointed; the common rude Scandinavian Runes have no special g or d, and their b is put between t and l, nearly at the end of the alphabet (… t, b, l, m, y). In all the others b kept its place at the head of the consonants, immediately after a, which stands first in almost all alphabets.

A. Among the vowels a begins more words than any other vowel: it contains the three great prepositions, af, at, and á, which, with their compounds, along with those of al- and all-, make up more than half the extent of the letter; it abounds in compound words, but is comparatively poor in primitive root words. Again, b is in extent only surpassed by the consonants h and s; in regard to the number of root words it is equal to them all, if not the foremost. It is scanty in compounds, has no prepositions, but contains the roots of several large families of words, as, for instance, the three great verbs, bera, bregða, and búa; besides many of secondary extent, as binda, bíða, biðja, etc.; and a great number of nouns. The extent of b is greatly reduced by the fact, that the Scandinavian idioms have no prefix be-, which in the German swells the vocabulary by thousands (in Grimm it takes up about 300 pages); the modern Swedes and Danes have during the last few centuries introduced a great many of these from modern German; the Icel. have up to the present time kept their tongue pure from this innovation, except in two or three words, such as betala or bítala (to pay), befala or bífala (to commend), behalda or bíhalda (to keep), which may, since the Reformation, be found in theol. writers; the absence of the prefix be- is indeed one of the chief characteristics of the Icel. as opposed to the German; the English, influenced by the northern idiom, has to a great extent cut off this be-, which abounds in A. S. (v. Bosworth, A. S. Dictionary, where about 600 such words are recorded); even in the Ormulum only about thirty such words are found; in South-English they are more frequent, but are gradually disappearing. Again, b represents p in Scandinavian roots; for probably all words and syllables beginning with p are of foreign extraction; and the same is probably the case in German and English, and all the branches of the Teutonic (vide Grimm D. G. iii. 414); whereas, in Greek and Latin, p is the chief letter, containing about a seventh of the vocabulary, while b contains from one seventieth to one ninetieth only. It might even be suggested that the words beginning with b in Greek and Latin are (as those with p in the Teutonic) either aliens, onomatopoëtics, provincialisms, or even cant words.

B. PRONUNCIATION. — The b is in Icel. sounded exactly as in English: I. as initial it is an agreeable sound in all the branches of the Teutonic, especially in the combinations br and bl, as in ‘bread, brother, bride, bloom, blithe, blood, bless,’ etc. etc. The Greek and Roman, on the other hand, disliked the initial b sound; but the difference seerns to be addressed to the eye rather than the ear, as the π in modern Greek is sounded exactly as Icel. b, whilst β is sounded as Icel. v; thus the Greek GREEK in Icel. rendered phonetically by vísundr, but GREEK (biskup, bishop) is in all Teutonic dialects rendered by b, not p, probably because the Greek π had exactly this sound. II. but although agreeable as the initial to a syllable, yet as a middle or final letter b in Icel. sounds uncouth and common, and is sparingly used: 1. after a vowel, or between two vowels, b is never sounded in Icel. as in modern German geben, haben, laub, leben, leib, lieb; in all those cases the Icel. spells with an f, sounded as a v. Ulfilas frequently uses b, e.g. graban, haban, saban, ïba, gabei, etc.; yet in many cases he vacillates, e.g. giban, graban, gêban, grôbun, tvalib, but gaf and grôf, etc. So gahalaiban on the Gothic-Runic stone in Tune, but hlaifs, Ulf., Luke vi. 48. The Greek and Latin abound in the use of the b (bh) in the middle of syllables and inflexions (-bus, -bills, -bo): in Icel. only a double b may be tolerated, but only in onomatopoëtic or uncouth words, as babbi (pa of a baby), bobbi (a scrape), stubbi (Germ. stumpf), lubbi (Germ. lump), nabbi (a knob), krabbi (a crab), gabb, babbl, babbla, etc.; cp. similar words in English. 2. joined to a consonant; α. in old Swedish b is inserted between m and r or m and l (as in mod. Greek μρ and μλ are sounded μβρ and μβλ, e.g. Swed. domber, komber, warmber, hambri, gamblar = Icel. dómr, komr (venit), varmr, hamri, gamlar: Swed. kumbl and kubl (Icel. kuml, monumentum) are used indifferently. Even in old Icel. poems we find sumbl = suml, symposium, simbli = simli, Edda i.

B — BAÐMR. 49

256 (Ed. Havn.): mp is only found in adopted words, as in kempa (cp. Germ. kampf), lampi (Lat. lampas), and is almost assimilated into pp (kappi): mb is tolerated in a few words, such as umb, lamb, dramb, dumbr, kambr, vömb, timbr, gymbr. strambr, klömbr; cp. the Engl. lamb, comb, timber, womb, where the b is not pronounced (except in the word timber); in limb, numb the b is not organic (cp. Icel. limr, numinn); it occurs also in a few diminutive pet names of children, Simbi = Sigmundr, Imba= Ingibjörg. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Germans used much to write mb or mp before d or t, as sambt or sampt (una cum), kombt or kompt (venit); but this spelling again became obsolete. β. the modern High German spells and pronounces rb and lb, werben, korb, kalb, halb, etc., where the middle High German has rw and lw, korw, kalw; the modern Scandinavian idioms here spell and pronounce rf, lf, or rv, lv, e.g. Dan. kalv, Swed. kalf, vitulus; the Icel. spells with f, arfi, kálfr, but pronounces f like v. Yet in Icel. rb, lb are found in a few old MSS., especially the chief MS. (A. M. folio 107) of the Landnáma, and now and then in the Sturlunga and Edda: nay, even to our own time a few people from western Icel. speak so, and some authors of mark use it in their writings, such as the lexicographer Björn Halldórsson, e.g. álbr, kálbr, hálbr, sjálbr, silbr, úlbr, kólbr, orb, arbi, karbi, þörb, = álfr, etc.; only the word úlbúð, qs. úlfúð, is used all over Icel. γ.fl and fn are in mod. Icel. usage pronounced bl and bn, skafl, tafl, nafli, = skabl, tabl, nabli; nafn, höfn, safn, nefna, = nabn, höbn, sabn, nebna; without regard whether the radical consonant be f or m, as in nafn and safn, qs. namn and samn. This pronunciation is in Icel. purely modern, no traces thereof are found in old vellum MSS.; the modern Swedes, Danes, and Norse pronounce either mn (the Swedes spell mn where Icel. use fn or bn) or vl (Dan.), ffl (Swed.) δ.fð is in Icel. commonly pronounced as bð, e.g. hafði, hefð, sofðu = habði, hebð, sobðu; yet a few people in the west still preserve the old and genuine pronunciation vd (havdu, sovdu, not habðu, sobðu), even in the phrase, ef þú (si tu), proncd. ebðú. The prefixed particles of- and af- are often in common speech sounded as ob-, ab-, if prefixed to a word beginning with b or even m, l, e.g. ofboð, afburðr, afbindi, aflagi, afmán, as obboð, abbindi, Hm. 138; abbúð, Korm. 116; abburðr, Fms. x. 321; ablag, abmán: gef mér, lofa mér, proncd. gébmér or gémmér, lobmér or lommér (da mihi, permitte mihi); af mér (a me), proncd. abmér or ammér; but only in common language, and never spelt so; cp. Sunnan Póstur, A.D. 1836, p. 180, note * *. ε.b = m in marbendill = marmennill.

C. According to Grimm’s Law of Interchange (‘Lautverschiebung’), if we place the mute consonants in a triangle thus:

D. In the Runic inscriptions the b is either formed as RUNE, so in the old Gothic stone in Tune, or more commonly and more rudely as RUNE in the Scandinavian monuments; both forms clearly originate from the Greek-Roman. The Runic name was in A. S. beorc, i.e. a birch, Lat. betula; ‘beorc byð blêda leâs …, ‘ the A. S. Runic Poem. The Scandinavian name is, curiously enough — instead of björk, f. a birch, as we should expect — bjarkan, n.; the name is in the old Norse Runic Poem denoted by the phrase, bjarkan er lauf grænst lima, the b. has the greenest leaves, cp. also Skálda 177: both form and gender are strange and uncouth, and point to some foreign source; we do not know the Gothic name for it, neither is the Gothic word for the birch (betula) on record, but analogously to airþa, hairþa, Icel. jörð, hjörð, björk would in Gothic be sounded bairca, f.; the Scandinavian form of the name points evidently to the Gothic, as a corruption from that language, — a fresh evidence to the hypothesis of the late historian P. A. Munch, and in concord with the notion of Jornandes, about the abode of the Goths in Scandinavia at early times. Thorodd (Skálda 166) intended to use b as a sign for the single letter, B for a double b, and thus wrote uBi = ubbi; but this spelling was never agreed to.

bak-eldr and bakstreldr, m. an evening fire to bake the body and limbs
at (v. baka); sitja við bakelda, Fs. 4, Orkn. 112, 74, Korm. 236, Grett.
91: metaph., bændr skulu eiga ván bakelda, they shall get it hot enough,
Fms. viii. 201; göra e-m illan bakeld, 383, ix. 410. bakelda-hrif,
n. pl. rubbing the back at a b., Grett. l. c. A. As the evening bakeldar
are not mentioned in the Sturl., it may be that bathing had put them out
of use because of the scarcity of fuel.

banda, að, [cp. Ulf, bandvian = GREEK and bandva, vexillum; Germ, banner; is probably alien to binda], to make a sign with the
hand, esp. in the phrase, b. móti, to drive back sheep or flocks, Háv. 41,
Fas. ii. 124, v.l. The chief MSS., however, spell bannaði; the word is
at present freq., but only in the above phrase, or gener. to remonstrate
slightly against as by waving the hand; v. benda.

barn-faðir, m. a child’s alleged father, H. E. ii. in. barna-
móðir was in popish times the name for a priest’s concubine.

barn-fóstr, n. ‘ bairn-fostering, ‘ a kind of adoption in olden times;
at bjóða e-m b., t o o^ er b. to another man, is a standing custom in the
Sagas; men of wealth, but of low birth, in order to get security for
their property, offered barnfóstr to noblemen, as in Ld. ch. 16 and ch.
28, Hænsa jbór. S. (ísl. ii. 125), Hard. S. ch. 9 (Ísl. ii. 23); or it was done
as a matter of policy, it being regarded as a homage to be the foster-
father of another man’s son; því at sá er mselt at sá sé útignari sem
öðrum fostrar barn, Fms. i. 16; ok er sá kallaðr æ minni maðr, er
Öðrum fóstrar barn, Ld. 108; thus Jon Loptsson offered b. to the
young Snorri, in order to soothe the wounded pride of his father Sturla,
Sturl. i. 106; Ari Frodi was fostered by Hall í Haukadal, íb.; Njal
offered to adopt as a son the young Hoskuld, in order to atone for the
slaying of his father, Nj. ch. 95; cp. also the interesting story of the
kings Harold and Athelstan and the young Hacon, Fms. i. I. c.: as a
matter of friendship, Ld. 144, Bs. i. 73, 74, Sturl. i. 223, Ld. 25, and
many other instances. COMPD: barnfostr-laun, n. pl. a reward,
fee for b., N. G. L. i. 91.

bastarðr, m. bastard, appears for the first time as the cognom. of
William the Conqueror. The etymon is dubious; Grimm suggests a
Scandinavian origin; but this is very doubtful; the word never occurs
in Scandinavian writers before the time of William, sounds very like
a foreign word, is rarely used, and hardly understood by common people
in Icel.; neither does it occur in A. S. nor O. H. G.; so that Adam of
Bremen says, iste Willelmus quem Franci bastardum vocant; whence
the word seems to come from some southern source; cp. the Játv. S. (Ed.
1852), and Fl. iii. 463 sqq.; the MS. Holm, spells bastarðr, the Fb. bast-
hardr. 2. name of a sword, Fms. vii. 297, referring to A. D. 1163. 3. a kind of cloth, in deeds of the I4th and 151:1 centuries,
Vm. 46, 136, D. N. ii. 165.

baug-bœtandi, pl. -endr, part, a law term, / h os e who have to pay the baugr (II.); opp. to baugþiggendr, the receivers, Grág. ii. 172.

baug-eiðr, m. theoath upon the sacred temple ring in heathen times;
b. Óðinn hygg ek at unnit hafi, hvat skal hans trygðum trúa, Hm. no;
cp. the phrase, vinna eið at baugi, v. baugr below; the baugeiðr of heathen
times answers to the Christian bókciðr and vinna eið at bók, to swear,
laying the band upon the Gospel.

baug-gildi, n. a law term, the ‘ weregild’ to be paid to the ‘ agnates’ of
the slain; opp. to nefgildi, the same amount to be paid to the ‘cognates;’ defined, Grág. (Bt.) ii. 176, N. G. L. i. 186: metaph. agnatic relation-
ship, vera or b. eðr nefgildi, lifa í b. etc., to be an agnate or a cognate, id.
bauggildis-menn, in. pl. agnates who are bound to pay and receive the
bauggildi, Grág. ii. 180.

baug-gildingr, m. = bauggildismaðr, cp. nefgildingr, Grág. ii. 178.

baug-gildr, adj. payable, fit to pay as bauggildi, N. G. L. i. 176.

BAUGR, m. [the root bjiig — bang — bog; A. S. beág; O. ll. G. pottc
= armilla; lost in N. H. G. and in Engl.] I.a ring, armlet, esp.
in olden times to be worn on the wrist plain, without stones: o. the
sacred temple ring (stallahringr) on the altar in heathen temples; all oaths
were’ to be made by laying the hand upon the temple ring; at sacrificial
banquets it was to be dipped in the blood, and was to be worn by the
priest at all meetings. The ring was either of gold or silver, open
(mótlaus), its weight varying between two, three, and twenty ounces (the
last is the reading of Eb. new Ed. p. 6, v. 1., the classical passages in the
Sagas are — Eb. I. e. (and cp. 44), Glúm. 388, Landn. (Hb.) 258, þórð. S.
94 (Ed. 1860); cp. also the note at the end of the new Ed. of Eb., referring
to an interesting essay of the Norse Prof. Holmboe upon the matter,
Christiania, A. D. 1864. p. baugr is at present in Icel. used of a
spiral ring without a stone (e. g. a wedding ring); the third finger is
called baugfingr, transl. from Lat. digitus annuli, for the wearing of
wedding rings is not in use in Icel. (unless as a Dan. imitation). Icel.
also say einbaugr, tvibaugr, a single or double spiral ring.II.
metaph. in olden times, before minted gold or silver came into use, the
metals were rolled up in spiral-formed rings, and pieces cut off and
weighed were used as a medium of payment; hence, in old times,
baugr simply means money, used in the poets in numberless compounds;
hringum hreytti, hjó sundr baug, Rm. 35; cp. baugbroti, baugskyndir,
baugskati, baughati, one who breaks, throws, hates gold, epithets of princes,
etc., v. Lex. Poët. A. S. poetry abounds in epithets such as, beaggeafa,dator awri; the Heliand speaks of ‘ vunden gold. ‘ In the law the pay-
ment of weregild is particularly called baugr, v. the compounds: baugatal
is the Icel. section of law treating of the weregild, Grág. ii. 171-188;
höfuôbaugr, lögbaugr (a le^ al bang, lawful payment). In the Norse
law vide esp. N. G. L. i. 74 sqq., 184 sqq. 2. the painted circle on the
round shield (clypeus); á fornum skjoldum var titt at skrifa rönd þá er
b. var kallaðr, ok er við þann baug skildir kendir, Edda 87, Eg. 699;
often embellished with scenes from the mythical age. Some poems arc
preserved or on record, describing such shields, two Berudrapur by Egil
(bera, a shield), Haustlong by Thjodolf, R. agnarsdrapa by Bragi Gamli
(of the 9th and loth centuries). Some of these poems were among the
chief sources used by Snorri in composing the Edda. The shield is metaph.
called baugr, Edda (Gl.) 3. afish-hook; man eigi þú draga Leviathan
á öngli eðr bora kiðr hans með baugi (very rare, if not an air. Ae-y.), Post.
686 C. ?. 4. the phrase, eiga (kost) a baugi, to have (a single) chance
left; þótti þat vera et mesta hætturáð at berjast, en sá mun á baugi, ef eigi
er szzt, there will be no other chance unless we come to terms, Sturl. iii. 244;
þii munt eiga slíkan á baugi bratt, th o?/ wilt soon have the very same chance(viz. death), the turn will come to thee, Nj. 58; mi mun ek eiga þann á
baugi, at…, there will be no other chance for me, than …, Orkn. 46; cp.
einbeygðr kostr, dira necessitas, 58; kvaðst þá lieldr vilja liggja

baug-þak, n. [þekja baug], a law term, ‘ baug-covering, ‘ i. e. the
supplemental payment to be added in due proportion to the amount of
weregild (baugr), defined, Grág. ii. 171, 172; hence’ at baugþaki’ metaph.
means in addition, to boot; þá kom at honum síðan at b. brotfallit, he
was taken with fits of epilepsy to boot, Bs. i. 336.

bauta-steinn, Snorri (Hkr.) constantly uses the pl. form, but
bautaðarsteinn, Fagrsk. 19, ^nd bautarsteinn, Hm. 72; m. the stone
monuments of the olden age, esp. in Sweden and Denmark; the Hávamál
1. c. (sjaldan bautarsteinar standa brautu nær, nema reisi niðr at nið) tells
us that these stones used to be placed along the high roads, like the sepul-
chral monuments of old Rome; cp. the standing phrase on the Swedish-
Runic stones — her skal standa steinn ‘ naer brautu;’ or, má eigi’ brautar-
kuml’ (a roa d monument) betra verða; the high roads of old Sweden
seem to have been lined with these monumental stones; even at the
present time, after the destruction of many centuries, the Swedish-Runic
stones (of the nth and I2th centuries) are counted by thousands. A
great collection was made and drawings executed during the I7*h
century (Buræus, etc.), but only published A. D. 1750, under the name
of Bautil. The etymology of this word is much contested; some
render it by ‘ s t on e s of the slain’ (bauta, to slay), but this is contradicted
by the passage in Hm. 1. c. and by the inscriptions themselves. The
bauta stones were simply monuments erected by the piety of kindred
and friends without any respect to sex or manner of death, either in war,
on sea, or through sickness; some were even erected to the memory
of living persons. They were usually tombstones; but many of them
are memorial stones for men that died in foreign lands, Greece, Russia,
the British Islands, etc. Neither is Snorri right in saying (Hkr. pref.)
that the bautasteinar belonged to the old burning age (brunaöld), and
were replaced by the cairns (haugar) in the subsequent cairn age
(haugaöld) — þá skyldi brenna alla dauða menn ok reisa eptir bauta-
steina, en síðan er Freyr hafði heygðr verit at Uppsölum þá görðu
margir höfðingjar eigi síðr hauga en bautasteina. Svíar tóku lík hans ok
var hann brendr við á þá er Skúta heitir, þar vóru settir bautasteinar
hans, Hkr. Yngl. ch. 17 — the passage in Hávamál and the monuments
refute this statement. The great bulk of the Scandinavian bauta stones
seem to be of the nth and even 12th century. In Icel. no stones of that
time are on record: var hann þá her heygðr skamt frá bsenum, ok settir
upp bautasteinar, þeir er enn standa her, Hkr. i. 269; hávir bautasteinar
standa hjá haugi Egils ullserks, 153, — where Fagrsk. reads, í þau skip
var lagðr í valrinn, ok orpnir þar haugar utan at; þar stendr ok bautaðar-
steinn (= bautarsteinn in Hm. ?) hár sem Egill fell, p. 19; — en eptir alia
þá menn er nokkut mannsmót var at, skyldi reisa bautasteina, ok hélzt
sa siðr lengi síðan, Hkr. Yngl. ch. 8. It is worth remarking that the
Word ‘ bautasteinn’ never occurs out of Icel. literature, and there only in the above passages, viz. once in the old Hm., once in the Fagrsk.,
four times in the Hkr., whence it has passed over to modern writers.
The word is most probably only a corruption from brautarsteinar,lapides viae, (by dropping the r); cp. the analogous Swedish word,
brautarkuml, monumentum viae, which occurs in the inscriptions
themselves.

bási, köttr í búri…, cp. the Engl. in the cow’s boose, Bosworth s. v.; has,
bás is an interj. exclam. for driving cows into stall: also used in Icel. of
basins formed in rocks, e. g. at the foot of a waterfall; in local names,
Básar, Básendar, etc.: the phrase, hafa sér markaðan bás, to have one’s
course of life marked out, Ísl. Jjjóðs. i. 538; einginn veit sér ætlaðan bás
í örlaganna solli, n o o ne knows what boose is kept for him in the turmoil
of the fates, Grönd. 194; vide bjarnbass.

BÁSUNA, u, f. (for. word), bassoon, Fas. ii. 511.

bát-festr, f. a rope by which a boat is made fast, Jb. 398, 655 xvii.

bát-lauss, adj. and bátleysi, n. being without a boat, Eb. 142, Jb. 399-

bát-maðr, m. a boatman, Hkr. iii. 128, Fms. vi. 320.

BÁTR,, m. [a Scandin. and Low Germ, word used in A. S., Engl.,
Dutch, but alien to O. H. G. and middle H. G.; even Luther (v. Grimm
y. v.) never uses the word; it was later introduced into mod. High Germ.,
but has a foreign sound there, (Engl. t answers to High Germ, z); the
word is in Germ, borrowed from Dutch or English] :– a boat, either
a small open fishing vessel or a shi p- boat. In Icel. only small boats
are called so, those of two or four oars; an eight-oared boat is a
‘ship, ‘ Eg. 121, 373, Eb. 142, Nj. 122, Jb. 398, Bs. 1. 422, 423: in
phrases, ausa bat sinn, Fms. vii. 331; sjá fyrir báti sínum, to go
one’s own course, to mind erne’s own business, Sturl. iii. 247: allitera-
tion, eiga bygð í báti, metaph., Bs. i. 422. COMPDS: báts-borð,
n. the s ide of a boat, Sturl. i. 119. báts-farmr, m. a boat’s freight, Ann. 1342.

BEIMAR, m. pl. [etym. uncertain], poet, men, heroes, the followers
of king Beirni, according to Edda 109; it is more likely that it is a rela-
tion to Engl. bea w, beaming, and means illustrious, Lex. Poët.

æðra or úæðra bekk is a standing phrase: the placing of the benches differed in Icel. and Norway, and in each country at various times; as regards the Icel. custom vide Nj. ch. 34, Sturl. i. 20, 21, the banquet at Reykhólar, A. D. 1120, ii. 182, the nuptials at Flugumýri, Lv. ch. 13, Ld. ch. 68, Gunnl. S. ch. 11, Ísl. ii. 250, cp. Nj. 220: á báða bekki, on both sides of the ball, Ísl. ii. 348, cp. Gísl. 41 (in a verse), etc.: as to foreign (Norse) customs, vide esp. Fagrsk. ch. 216, cp. Fms. vi. 390, xi. (Jómsv. S.) 70, Glúm. ch. 6, Orkn. ch. 70, Sturl. ii. 126; see more minutely under the words skáli, öndvegi, pallr, etc.; breiða, strá bekki, is to strew or cover the benches in preparing for a feast or wedding; bekki breiði (imper. pl., MS. breiða), dress the benches! Alvm. 1; bekki at strá, Em. verse 1; standit upp jötnar ok stráit bekki, Þkv. 22; brynjum um bekki stráð, the benches (wainscots?) covered with coats of mail, Gm. 44: in these phrases bekkir seems to be a collective name for the hall, the walls of which were covered with tapestry, the floor with straw, as in the Old Engl. halls. The passage Vtkv. 10 — hveim eru bekkir baugum sánir — is dubious (stráðir?); búa bekki, to dress the benches; er Baldrs feðr bekki búna veit ek at sumblum, Km. 25; breitt var á bekki, brúðr sat á stól, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 466; vide brúðarbekkr. COMPDS: bekkjar-bót, f. the pride of a bench, a bride, cognom., Landn. bekk-jar-gjöf, f. ‘bench-gift,’ an old custom to offer a gift to the bride whilst she sate on the bride’s bench at the wedding festival, Ld. 188, cp. Fms. ii. 133, and in many passages in Fritzner from D. N. it seems to be synonymous with línfé (lín, a veil), as the bride’s face on the wedding day was veiled; ganga und líni is a poët. phrase used of the bride on the bridal bench, yet Fms. x. 313, línfé eða b. 2. as a law term, cp. Engl. bench; the benches in the lögrétta in Icel. were, however, usually called pallr, v. the Grág. 3.the coloured stripes in a piece of stuff.

BEKKR, s, and jar, m. [North. E. beck; Germ, bach; Dan. bæk; Swed. bäck], a rivulet, brook. In Icel. the word is only poët. and very rare; the common word even in local names of the 10th century is lækr (Lækjar-bugr, -óss, etc.); Sökkva-bekkr, Edda, is a mythical and pre-Icel. name; in prose bekkr may occur as a Norse idiom, Fms. vi. 164, 335, viii. 8, 217, Jb. 268, or in Norse laws as in Gþl. 418. At present it is hardly understood in Icel. and looked upon as a Danism. The phrase — þar er (breiðr) bekkr á milli, there is a beck between, of two persons separated so as to be out of each other’s reach — may be a single exception; perhaps the metaphor is taken from some popular belief like that recorded in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, note to 3. 13, and in Burns’Tam o’ Shanter — ‘a running stream they dare na cross;’ some hint of a like belief in Icel. might be in Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 356. It is now and then used in poetry, as, yfir um Kedrons breiðan bekk, Pass. 1. 15. COMPDS: bekkjar-kvern, f. a water-mill, B. K. 45 (Norse). bekkjar-rás, f. the bed of a beck, Stj. MS. col. 138.

D. In mod. usage the strong bera — bar is also used in impersonal phrases, denoting to let a thing be seen, shew, but almost always with a negative preceding, e.g. ekki bar (ber) á því, it could (can) not be seen; að á engu bæri, láta ekki á bera (to keep tight), etc. All these phrases are no doubt alterations from the weak verb bera, að, nudare, and never occur in old writers; we have not met with any instance previous to the Reformation; the use is certainly of late date, and affords a rare instance of weak verbs turning into strong; the reverse is more freq. the case.

ber-serkr, s, m., pl. ir: [the etymology of this word has been much
contested; some — upon the authority of Snorri, hans menn fóru ‘bryn&dash-uncertain;julausir,’
Hkr. i. 11 — derive it from ‘berr’ (bare) and ‘serkr’ [cp. sark,
Scot, for shirt]; but this etymology is inadmissible, because ‘serkr’ is a
subst. not an adj.: others derive it from ‘berr’ (Germ, bär = ursus),
which is greatly to be preferred, for in olden ages athletes and champions
used to wear hides of bears, wolves, and reindeer (as skins of lions in
the south), hence the names Bjálfi, Bjarnhéðinn, Úlfhéðinn, (héðinn,pellis,) — ‘pellibus aut parvis rhenonum tegimentis utuntur, ‘Caes. Bell.
Gall. vi. 22: even the old poets understood the name so, as may be
seen in the poem of Hornklofi (beginning of 10th century), a dialogue
between a Valkyrja and a raven, where the Valkyrja says, at berserkja
reiðu vil ek þik spyrja, to which the raven replies, Úlfhéðnar heita, they
are called Wolfcoats, cp. the Vd. ch. 9; þeir berserkir er Úlfhéðnar vóru
kallaðir, þeir höfðu vargstakka (coats of wild beasts) fyrir brynjur, Fs.
17 :– a ‘bear-sark,’ ‘bear-coat,’ i. e. a wild warrior or champion of the
heathen age; twelve berserkers are mentioned as the chief followers of
several kings of antiquity, e. g. of the Dan. king Rolf Krake, Edda 82;
a Swed. king, Gautr. S. Fas. iii. 36; king Adils, Hrólf. Kr. S. ch. 16 sqq.;
Harald Hárfagri, Eg. ch. 9, Grett. ch. 2, Vd. l. c. (Hornklofi, v. above);
the twelve sons of Arngrim, Hervar. S. ch. 3-5, Hdl. 22, 23; the two
berserkers sent as a present by king Eric at Upsala to earl Hakon of
Norway, and by him presented to an Icel. nobleman, Eb. ch. 25. In
battle the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy, called berserksgangr
(furor bersercicus, cp. the phrase, ganga berserksgang), when they
howled like wild beasts, foamed at the mouth and gnawed the iron rim
of their shields; during these fits they were, according to popular belief,
proof against steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the
enemy; but when the fever abated they were weak and tame. A
graphical description of the ‘furor bersercicus’ is found in the Sagas,
Yngl. S. ch. 6, Hervar. S. l. c., Eg. ch. 27, 67, Grett. ch. 42, Eb. ch. 25, Nj.
ch. 104, Kristni S. ch. 2, 8 (Vd. ch. 46); cp. also a passage in the poem
of Hornklofi | grenjuðu berserkir, | guðr var þeim á sinnum, | emjaðu
Úlfhéðnar | ok ísarn gniiðu — which lines recall to the mind Roman
descriptions of the Cimbric war-cry. In the Icel. Jus Eccles. the berserksgangr,
as connected with the heathen age, is liable to the lesser
outlawry, K. Þ. K. 78; it is mentioned as a sort of possession in Vd. ch.
37, and as healed by a vow to God. In the Dropl. S. Major (in MS.)
it is medically described as a disease (v. the whole extract in the essay
‘De furore Bersercico,’ Kristni S. old Ed. in cake); but this Saga is
modern, probably of the first part of the 17th century. The description
of these champions has a rather mythical character. A somewhat different
sort of berserker is also recorded in Norway as existing in gangs
of professional bullies, roaming about from house to house, challenging
husbandmen to ‘holmgang’ (duel), extorting ransom (leysa sik af hólmi),
and, in case of victory, carrying off wives, sisters, or daughters; but in
most cases the damsel is happily rescued by some travelling Icelander,
who fights and kills the berserker. The most curious passages are Glúm,
ch. 4, 6, Gísl. ch. 1 (cp. Sir Edm. Head’s and Mr. Dasent’s remarks in
the prefaces), Grett. ch. 21, 42, Eg. ch. 67, Flóam. S. ch. 15, 17; according
to Grett. ch. 21, these banditti were made outlaws by earl Eric,
A. D. 1012. It is worth noticing that no berserker is described as a
native of Icel.; the historians are anxious to state that those who appeared
in Icel. (Nj., Eb., Kr. S. l. c.) were born Norse (or Swedes), and they
were looked upon with fear and execration. That men of the heathen age
were taken with fits of the ‘furor athleticus’ is recorded in the case of
Thorir in the Vd., the old Kveldulf in Eg., and proved by the fact that the
law set a penalty upon it. Berserkr now and then occurs as a nickname,
Glúm. 378. The author of the Yngl. S. attributes the berserksgangr to
Odin and his followers, but this is a sheer misinterpretation, or perhaps the
whole passage is a rude paraphrase of Hm. 149 sqq. In the old Hbl. 37
berserkr and giant are used synonymously. The berserkers are the representatives
of mere brute force, and it therefore sounds almost blasphemous,
when the Norse Barl. S. speaks of Guðs berserkr (a’bear-coat’ or champion
of God), (Jesus Kristr gleymdi eigi hólmgöngu sins berserks), 54,
197. With the introduction of Christianity this championship disappeared
altogether.

bjalla, u, f. a bell, certainly an Engl. word imported into Icel. along with Christianity; bjöllu gætir, the keeper of the bell, is a nickname given by the heathen Icel. to a missionary, A.D. 998, Kristni S. (in a verse): hann vígði klukkur ok bjöllur, Bs. i. 65, Fms. i. 233: bjalla is now esp. used of small bells, e.g. on the horns of sheep, but klukka of a church bell; cp. dynbjalla, Grett.

bjarg-kviðr, m. a law term, a verdict of acquittal given by five neighbours for the defendant, proving an alibi or the like, and produced during the trial; the b. seems to be, in its strict sense, synonymous with heimiliskviðr or heimiskviðr, q.v., cp. Grág, i. 60, 61, where it is defined; fimm búar skulu skilja um bjargkviðu alla, heimilis-búar þess manns er sóttr er, nema …, vide also 48, 49, 53, 55, 56, etc.

bjarg-vættr, f. (in mod. usage m.), [bjarg, mons, or bjarga, servare], a helping friendly sprite, a good genius, answering to the Christian good angel; according to the heathen belief, the country, esp. hills and mountains, were inhabited by such beings; in the northern creed the bjargvætter are generally a kind of giant of the gentler kind: in mod. usage, a supporter, helper in need; muntu verða mér hinn mesti (masc.) b., Fas. ii. 438, vellum MS. of 15th century; en mesta (fem.) b., Bárð. 168, new Ed. 12.

bjarg-þrota, adj. destitute of means to live.

BJARKAN, n. the Runic letter B, Skálda, v. Introduction.

BJARKEY-, in the word bjarkeyjar-réttr, m. town-law, used as opposed to landslög or landsréttr, county-law, Sks. 22; sökin veit til landslaga en eigi til bjarkeyjarréttar, Fms. vii. 130; vide N. G. L. i. 303-336. It is an illustration of this curious word, that the Danes at present call a justice ‘birkedommer,’ and the district ‘birk;’ cp. local names, as in Sweden,–in Birchâ civitate regiâ, Johann. Magnus 542 (Ed. 1554); civitas Birchensis, 556; in Birchâ civitate tum maxima, 541; in Norway, Bjarkey is one of the northern islands, whence the famous Norse family Bjarkeyingar took their name; v. Munch, the pref. to Norge’s Beskrivelse. Etym. uncertain; hedged in with birch (?).

BJARMI, a, m. the beaming or radiance of light, not the light itself; sólar-bjarmi, dags-bjarmi; very freq. in mod. usage; no instances from old writers are on record; akin to brími, bjartr, etc. II. pl. Bjarmar (and Bjarmaland n., bjarmskr adj.), name of a people or tribe of the Russian empire, the Perms of the present day; vide K. Alfred’s Orosius i. 1, 14 sq., Ó. H. ch. 122, Fas. ii. 511 sqq.

bjarn-ylr, s, m. bear’s warmth, the vital warmth of an ice-bear; it was believed in Icel. (vide Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 610) that a child born on the hide of an ice-bear would be proof against frost and cold; people hardy against cold are therefore said ‘to have bear’s warmth‘ (bjarnyl), vide Háv. 39.

bjóðr, m. [bjóða], poët. one who invites, Lex. Poët; cp. also compds such as við-bjóðr, disgust, from bjóða við.

bjór-blandinn, part. mixed with beer, El. 21.

BJÓRR, m. [O. H. G. pior or bior; Low Germ, and mod. Germ, bier; Fris. biar; A. S. bior; Engl. beer], no doubt a word of German extraction, öl (öldr), ale, being the familiar word used in prose :– bjór hardly ever occurs, vide however Hkr. iii. 447, Bk. 48, 89, 96 (Norse); and is a foreign word, as is indicated even by the expression in the Alvismál–öl heitir með mönnum, en með Ásum bjór, ale it is called by men, by gods beer: bjór however is very current in poetry, but the more popular poems, such as the Hávamál, only speak of öl or öldr, Hm. 11, 13, 65, 80, 132, 138.

BJÖRG, f., gen. bjargar [v. bjarga], help, deliverance, out of need or danger, e.g. feeding the hungry, saving one’s life; unlawful ‘björg’ is that of giving help to an outlaw, who is ‘úráðandi öllum bjargráðum,’ one on whom no help must be bestowed, neither food, shelter, nor ferry; Grág. in several passages, and there commonly used in plur. (bjargir) when in this particular sense; it was liable to a heavy punishment, and the case was to be summoned before the Fifth Court, Grág. Þ. Þ. ch. 25, Ld. 42. β. lögmæt björg, a lawful point of defence in pleading in the Court (v. bjarga sök), Grág. i. 73. 2.means of subsistence, stores, provisions, food; fjögurra (átta) missera b., Grág. i. 197, 286. 3. a freq. pr. name of a woman, Ingibjörg, Þorbjörg, Guðbjörg, etc.; in Swed.-Dan. ‘-borg,’ as in Ingeborg, etc. COMPDS: bjargar-lauss, adj. starving.bjargar-leysi, n. = bjarg-leysi, Band. 15. bjargar-vist, f. serving for food and clothing, Hrafn. 6; cp. bjargræði (above).

blakra, að, [blakra, Ivar Aasen, to shake, of leaves], to blink; b. augum, Hom. 89; now blakta, að, e.g. b. augum, to move the eyes, and also used of the beating of the heart; hón fann að hjartað blaktaði, in the story of the Beauty and the Beast (Skrýmslið Góða), Kvöldv. ii. 176: blakra vængjum = blakta vængjum, to flutter with the wings, Barl. 88; of sails, Úlf. 3. 14.

blanda, u, f. any mixture of two fluids, Fs. 145 (of watery blood); but esp. a beverage of hot whey mixed up with water, Vm. 60, Fms. ix. 360. Blanda also is the local name of a stream of glacier water in the north of Icel., v. Landn. β. metaph. the name of a book, miscellanea; skal sjá skrá … heita B., því at saman er blandað skyldu tali ok úskyldu, Rb. 4, v.l., in MS. Am. 625, 4to. blöndu-horn, n. a cup of blanda, a cognom., Landn. 278.

blandan, f. mixing, N. G. L. i. 153.

blasa, t; sup. blasað, [Engl. blaze], of places, in the phrase, b. við, to lie full and open before the eye (mod.)

blá, f., pl. blár, an GREEK in a verse Ísl. ii. 233, where it seems to mean the billows, blue waves. Ivar Aasen records ‘blaa’ a Norse term for the blue horizon; cp. the Icel. phrase, út í bláinn (as from blár, m.), into the blue, of what is thrown away, words spoken without need or end. In the east of Icel. blá means a meadow covered with snow half melted away, Erik Jonsson, Dict. s.v.

blá-maðr, m. a black man, negro, i.e. an Ethiopian, Al. 51, Orkn. 364 (referring to A.D. 1152), distinguished from the Saracens and Arabians; three ‘blámenn’ were sent as a present to the German emperor Frederic the Second, Fms. x. 3: in romances blámenn are mentioned as a kind of ‘berserkers,’ q.v., Finnb. ch. 16, Kjalnes. S. ch. 15; cp. Scott’s Ivanhoe, note B.

bláman, f. the livid colour of a bruise, Stj. 46. Gen. iv. 23.

blá-mengdr and -mengjaðr, part, blue-mingled, Dipl. i. 168.

blá-merktr, part. marked, variegated with blue, Vm. 149, 153.

blá-mær, f. [mœrr = moor, cp. landamæri, borders, Caes. Bell. Gall, vi. ch. 23], the blue moor, an GREEK in the Norse poet Eyvind Skáldaspillir as an epithet of the sea about A.D. 960, Hkr. i. 154; cp. Landn. 54, which reads borðmærar, and attributes the verse to another poet. The word is still in use in Norway in the popular phrase, ut aa blaamyra: vide Ivar Aasen s.v. blaamyr, the sea.

blóð-nætr, f. pl. bloody nights; it may originally have been a law term, the night next after a murder or homicide; in the proverb, blóðnætr eru hverjum bráðastar, i.e. the thirst for revenge rises highest during the bloody nights, Glúm. 344, Fs. 39, Bs. i. 142.

blóð-risa, adj. ind. [Germ, blutrise = saucius, cruentus], bruised and bloody, Eb. 46; in the alliterative phrase, blár ok b., blue and bloody from blows, Grett. 147, Stj. 91: as to the root, cp. hár-ramr, the outside, but hold-rosa, u, f. a tanner’s term, the inside of a skin; yet blóðrisa in the MSS. is not spelt with a y.

blóð-örn, m. ‘blood eagle,’ in the phrase ‘rísta b.,’ to cut a blood eagle, a cruel method of putting to death in the heathen times, practised, as it seems, only on the slayer of one’s father if taken alive in a battle: the ribs were cut in the shape of an eagle and the lungs pulled through the opening, a sort of vivisection described in Orkn. ch. 8, Fas. i. 293, 354 (Ragn. S.): so king Ella was put to death by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, Fms. iii. 225: it is called a sacrifice to Odin of the victim, cp. the phrase, ok gaf hann Óðni til sigrs sér, Orkn. l.c.; the old rite ‘marka geirsoddi,’ q.v., is analogous, not identical; cp. also upon the subject Grimm D. R. A., and Hm. 139.

boð-leið, f. a law term, the due course of a boð [4. β] from house to house, defined in Gþl. 432, N. G. L. i. 348, Jb. 181: in the phrase, fara (rétta) b., to go from house to house in due course, skipping none: perhaps the true reading Nj. 185 is, fara boðleið til búðar; some MSS. have bónleið.

boð-ligr, adj. fit to be offered, Háv. 55.

BOÐN, f. [cp. A. S. byden = dolium, Icel. byðna; Norse biðna, Ivar Aasen], one of the three vessels in which the poet, mead was kept, Edda 47, etc., hence poetry is called the wave of the boðn, Lex. Poët.

bola, að, prop. to fell trees, to cut through the body (bolr), Fas. i. 106. II. [boli, a bull], to bully; b. e-n út, to push one out, as a bull with the horns: reflex, bolast, a wrestling term, of two wrestlers pushing or butting at one another with their heads.